Disturbing the Universe
by rachel.leann
Summary: Set after the season finale. When Damon discovers that he kissed Katherine instead of Elena, what will happen? And when Elena is wounded, will Damon risk everything to save her?
1. Chapter 1 Disturbing the Universe

a/n: This is my new fan fiction that is set right after the season finale. The first little bit is just a recap to build my story on. I put a scene from the show at the beginning of this fan fiction so it isn't mine. All I did was put that part of the show into words. I would also love it if you would review my story! Thanks!

Chapter One Disturbing the Universe

_Do I dare  
Disturb the universe?  
In a minute there is time  
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.  
-The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock_

Damon felt defeated as he left the Gilbert house. He had expected to help Jeremy in some way, but his attempts at peace had only been met with frustration and pain. Jeremy wanted the pain to be completely erased, and that was something Damon simply couldn't do. He could take away the memories, but apparently the pain still lingered. Whatever good he had expected to do tonight had quickly been squandered.

As Damon closed the door behind him though, he saw Elena walk up the porch steps. Every time he saw her, she merely took his breath away. Her beauty was phenomenal. Even she didn't realize how absolutely perfect she was.

"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply, almost defensively. Why did she always need a reason for him to be here?

"A failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing."

"Which was?"

"It's not important." He reached down. "Let me take this for you." He took her clothes that she had worn earlier and draped them over the swing. Then, he glanced back toward her.

"Thank you."

"You know, I came in this town wanting to destroy it," he confessed as he glanced toward her. "Tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen?" He shook his head. "I'm not a hero Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me."

"Maybe it is," she responded quickly and Damon had to fight to keep his thoughts focused.

"No," he responded too quickly. "That's reserved for my brother, and you, and Bonnie. Even though she has every reason to hate me, she helped Stefan save me."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"She did it for you. Which means that somewhere along the way, you decided that I was worth saving."

He stood too close to her now. He knew it was a bad idea to try what he was about to, but as long as she stood there, he couldn't help himself. He just had to know.

"I want to thank you for that," he spoke softly. He looked deep into her eyes and saw a slight gleam of mistrust there. But more important was the spark of apprehension as he stood so close to her.

She glanced to him and offered him an understanding smile. "You're welcome."

Then, Damon leaned in slowly and kissed her gently on the cheek. He wasn't sure what to expect, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she stood there and let him kiss her. When he started to pull away, he stopped and gazed into her eyes. For a small second she glanced down at his lips. Everything inside of Damon screamed at him to be good, but he wasn't used to listening to that side. Instead, he wanted Elena, and since she had looked at him like that, he had to try.

Slowly, he leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. She didn't fight or protest. Instead, she kissed him back apprehensively. A slight wave of happiness raced through Damon's being that he couldn't suppress. He kissed her again, this time with more passion. He moved his hands to cradle her head when the door to the house opened.

Part of his happiness faded when Elena backed quickly away from him. Jenna stood at the door of the house with a stern expression on her face.

"Hi," Elena said quickly.

"It's late. You should probably come inside."

Elena only nodded as she picked up her clothes from the swing and entered the house. Then, she was inside and the door closed in Damon's face.

As he touched his lips, he glanced back toward the house. Even though his entire being wanted him to believe he had just kissed Elena, his entire existence screamed out that he hadn't. Slowly, Damon walked over to the large window that allowed him to see into the kitchen. Elena stood at the island and put up the knives that had been freshly washed. John stood next to her as he apologized for everything that he had done in the past. Personally, Damon didn't care about his confession. John had tried to kill him, and Damon didn't forgive easily.

Then, everything fell into chaos. Elena grabbed onto one of the knives and swiftly cut through the finger that John's special ring was on. She moved with inhuman speed to pin John against the cabinets. Then, John's final word said it all.

"Katherine."

She smiled a deadly smile as she plunged the knife deep into his stomach. She let his body fall to the ground and licked the blood from her fingers. Her gaze turned toward the window then and she grinned mischievously at Damon.

Damon could only gaze at her in wonder. But then the worst thing that could have ever happened occurred. He heard the front door of the house open as someone else entered the building.

"Jeremy," Elena called, and Damon felt his heart shatter. Katherine winked at Damon before she turned and dashed toward where Elena stood.

Damon didn't waste any time jumping up and through the kitchen window. He felt glass shatter around him, but didn't care about the mess. Elena's life was so much more precious than that.

Damon barely made it to Katherine before she touched Elena. He tackled the vampire quickly and felt both their bodies crash to the floor.

"Leave Elena," Damon cursed as Katherine bit into his neck. He saw the determination shine in Elena's eyes and wanted to save her. She was one of those people who never wanted to be saved.

But then the unthinkable happened. Katherine swiftly pinned Damon to the floor and used the knife she had killed John with to slash a deep gash in his chest. Damon screamed out in pain as he fought to grab onto Katherine. By that time, however, she was already up from the floor and going toward Elena. Before Damon had a chance to respond, Katherine skillfully used the knife to make a long cut across Elena's stomach. Elena collapsed onto the floor before Katherine shrugged. Then, with a wink, Katherine disappeared out of the house and into the night.

Cursing, Damon felt his body heal from his otherwise lethal wound. In any other circumstance, Damon would have raced into the darkness after Katherine. But now, Elena was dying and he could feel her life force slipping away.

He crawled over to her and cradled her head in his bloody lap. She moaned slightly and that small sound tore Damon's heart. A year ago he would have never thought about crying over a mere human, but if something happened to Elena now, he knew he'd never stop.

Knowing it was the only way, Damon used his fangs to slice a hole in his wrist. He placed his blood to her lips and watched her slowly swallow it. Under any other circumstance she would have hated him for being the one to have to save her, but now, he didn't have a choice.

Then, the stupid aunt entered into the room with Alaric following close behind. She started yelling out things that Damon tried to ignore. He heard her curse "adulterer" and "demon" and "murderer" at him. Thankfully, Alaric grabbed onto her and prevented her from charging at Damon while he tried to heal and save Elena.

Elena coughed then and Damon fought back a shout of joy. The wound that had consumed her stomach no longer appeared as fatal. Elena's beautiful eyes fluttered open, but then Damon could only see her intense pain. As soon as he knew she was going to be okay, he removed his wrist from her mouth. Then, he smiled warmly at her and watched as she fell asleep against his body.

During that time of sheer happiness, everything around him fell back into place. Once again he could hear Jenna screaming curses at him. Alaric tried to get her to calm down, but that only caused her curses to be focused on him instead of Damon.

"Do you have a plan?" Alaric asked while Damon picked Elena up off the ground.

"No," Damon smirked. "I thought you could take care of her."

Damon didn't even wait for Alaric to respond. He took Elena upstairs to her room and left Alaric with the screaming aunt. Part of Damon felt guilty for leaving Alaric alone with Jenna, but the other part found the situation funny. Whatever bond Damon now had with Alaric didn't wipe out his sense of humor.

As Damon laid Elena onto the soft covers of her bed, his entire heart melted. The brief happiness he had felt earlier when he had thought he was kissing Elena was nothing compared to knowing now that she was safe. He would give her up a thousand times over if it meant she got to live.

A gnawing feeling tore at the back of Damon's neck. He knew they couldn't stay at Elena's house, especially since Katherine had been invited in. And to make matters worse, Damon knew he had to call his brother.

Still, Damon couldn't bring himself to move. He had come so close to losing Elena because he had been selfish enough to not interfere with Katherine when she killed John. Damon had ignored his instincts and had almost lost _everything_ because of it.

"Damon," Elena moaned. At first, Damon thought Elena had woken up, but when he moved toward her, he realized she was deep in her reviving sleep.

A sigh escaped his lips then and he raked a hand through his dark hair. Every ounce of humanity he had left in his being longed to hear her say his name again, but a darker voice told him that her saying his name when she was asleep meant nothing. She loved his brother, not him.

Not sure what to do, Damon moved into the bathroom to clear his head. What he saw, however, made no sense.

As he stared at the empty pill bottles that were spread across the vanity, he arched an eyebrow. When he heard a moan come from Jeremy's room, Damon raced to the door and cursed.

Lying in a fetal position on the bed was Jeremy. His skin was a deathly white and sweat poured from his body. Held tightly in his right hand was an empty vial of blood. Damon cursed again. He didn't sign up for this.

Pulling out his cell phone, Damon quickly dialed 911. He had no desire to deal with an angry Elena when she found out he'd inadvertently convinced her brother to change into a vampire.

Thankfully, the call didn't last long. Then, he dialed his brother's number.

"Get to Elena's house," Damon said when Stefan picked up. Without waiting for an answer, Damon hung up.

He didn't like the idea of leaving Elena and Jeremy alone upstairs, but didn't have a choice. He had to tell the humans downstairs what was going on before the ambulance arrived.

Thankfully, when Damon came downstairs, Jenna was sitting in an almost coma-like state on the couch. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Damon, but she remained quiet.

"An ambulance is on the way to get Jeremy," Damon began slowly.

Then, Jenna's silence broke. "What? What did you do to him?" She was on her feet and pointing an accusing finger. "If you did _anything_ to hurt him, I _will_ stab you."

"He hurt himself all on his own," Damon frowned as he crossed his arms. "And I'll deal with John's body later. There's no way to explain his death to the authorities so why bother?"

A muffled sob escaped Jenna's lips as she collapsed back on the couch. Alaric wrapped his arm around her and shrugged at Damon.

Before Damon could say anything else, the door to the house opened and Stefan came inside. His expression was grim and he looked to Damon for answers.

"I can't even remotely explain everything now," Damon replied as sirens blazed in the distance. "Jeremy is close to dying from a drug overdose. I'm trying to prevent that from happening. If he does die, he'll be like us."

Comprehension dawned on Stefan's face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Damon cut him off.

"Katherine is back. She killed John and attacked me and Elena. Elena is okay and is currently upstairs sleeping it off. There's a chance she'll attack again. One of us needs to take Elena and get her to a safe home. Whenever she's safe, that person needs to come back here and get rid of John's body. The other one needs to go with Alaric, Jenna, and Jeremy to the hospital and make sure they're okay."

"I'll stay with Elena and keep her safe."

"I knew you were going to say that." Damon smirked. "And I'm going to politely disagree. Too many things have happened and Elena needs to know the truth of all this as soon as possible." Damon heard the door to the ambulance truck shut. "And I messed things up. I need a chance to explain myself."

"If anything happens to her, I will kill you," Stefan made clear. "If you make any sort of move, I will kill you." He glared at him. "I am _only_ letting you go with her because I feel like you're stronger now. If something happens to her, I'll make sure I'm strong enough to destroy you."

"Yes brother," Damon smirked. Then, he rushed up the stairs and to Elena's room. He closed the door to her bedroom just as the door to the house opened. He made sure to stay quietly on her bed while Jeremy's body was taken downstairs and loaded into the ambulance.

While there was nothing to do, Damon simply stared at Elena, and wondered if he'd ever get the chance to tell her how he truly felt.


	2. Chapter 2 Repeating the Past

a/n: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I finished my summer class on Friday so I should be able to update more often. As always, please review the chapter.

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Chapter Two Repeating the Past

_Would it have been worth while  
__If one… turning toward the window, should say:  
__"That is not it at all,  
__That is not what I meant at all."_  
-The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

It was late by the time Damon returned to Bonnie's house. He'd dropped Elena off earlier and then left to deal with John's body. He knew John probably deserved some sort of formal burial, but Damon was too tired to care. And he had far too many things to explain and apologize for to deal with someone who had tried to kill him only hours earlier.

When he entered the spare bedroom Elena had been left in, he just looked at her. She sat on top of the covers and looked at him with tired eyes. He knew she'd probably asked Bonnie where he and his brother were when she woke up. He wondered if she was disappointed to see him here now instead of Stefan.

Slowly, Damon crossed the deep red room and sat down on the dark covers. This room reminded him of blood. He was so sick of it.

He waited for her to speak, but she only gazed at him with a questioning stare. Finally, Damon forced himself to think back to the events of the past few hours.

"What do you remember?" he began.

She shrugged. "Not a lot," she replied truthfully. "I remember talking to Stefan and then going into my house. I heard John's voice in the kitchen. Then, I saw you and I'm assuming Katherine explode into the room I was in. After that, I just remember an unbearable amount of pain." Then, she arched an eyebrow. "You fed me your blood to heal me, didn't you?"

"Yes," he nodded. He waited for her to scream or yell at him, but she only offered him a weak smile.

"Thank you." Then, she got up from the bed and walked over to the room's large window. Damon watched her look out and secretly wondered what had captured her gaze. But then she spoke again and he was captivated by her voice. "What happened before I got there?"

Damon ruffled his dark hair. "This is going to be a little weird."

"I need to hear it."

Nodding, Damon too stood up. He wanted Elena to completely look at him, but instead, her gaze remained fixed on something outside. Since he couldn't get her undivided attention, he merely began.

"I talked to Jeremy and asked him if he wanted me to erase his memories of Anna. I thought he deserved the choice to have all this taken away. He quickly declined though. Apparently I didn't do as good a job as I thought I did erasing his pain that Vickie caused." Damon sighed. "Then I walked out of your house and I saw you. Except it wasn't you." He had to stop then and try to decide how to explain the new few minutes. He'd practiced the words over and over again in his head, but no matter what he said, he didn't see this conversation ending well.

"Everything inside of me screamed that I wasn't talking to you, but Katherine was such a good actress. I broke down to her, and she told me that I was still a good person."

"I'm so sorry," Elena spoke as she finally moved from her window position. She squeezed his hand for support. For only a few brief moments he savored the touch before he forced himself to pull away.

"Don't be sorry." He shook his head. "What I did next wasn't nice."

Elena crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

Everything inside of Damon screamed at him to be good, but he had never been good at any of that. All the events of the day had proven three things. One: that he was selfish and didn't care who was harmed in the grand scheme of things as long as he got what he wanted. Two: that he wanted to be with Elena and wanted to see her happy. Three: the second principle had on many occasions cancelled out the first.

Slowly Damon walked over to Elena. Suspicion claimed her features, but she refused to back away. She was too strong to retreat. That was one thing Damon loved about her.

"I walked toward you like this," he said softly as he looked deep into her eyes. "You looked about like you do now. I had just planned on saying goodbye, and I kissed you gently on the cheek." He looked at her eyes and when she didn't stop him, he slowly and carefully kissed her on the cheek. He felt her tense up under his touch, but he didn't stop. He placed his hands gently on her hips as he pulled away. Her eyes gleamed with such distrust and apprehension that it broke his heart. With a sigh, he pulled himself completely away from her. "Then I kissed you," he shrugged. "And you kissed me back. I should have known something was wrong then, but I just ignored my instincts and did what I wanted to do."

She didn't move away from him, but only arched an eyebrow. "Why didn't you try to kiss me now?"

"You wouldn't have let anything happen Elena. You're in love with my stupid brother."

Elena nodded slowly. "What happened next?"

"Jenna caught us. And she so beautifully invited Katherine in. I decided I couldn't ignore my instincts so I walked over and looked in the kitchen window. I saw Katherine and John talk for a few minutes. Then, she killed him." He paused a moment to let it all soak in. "Then I heard you enter the house and you know what happened from then on."

Sighing, she moved back to her position of looking out the window. The moonlight streamed into her dark hair and turned parts of it to an almost silver color, Damon wished he would have tried to kiss her. Anything would be better than this constant life of not knowing what could be.

"It feels weird," Elena finally said as she turned to meet his eyes. "I know your blood is in my veins. If I close my eyes, I can feel your blood move throughout my entire body. It's such an odd feeling, and I feel guilty about it."

"You shouldn't feel guilty Elena," Damon shook his head. "You weren't the one who made me flood your body with my blood. I did that all on my own."

"But you did it to save me. And I'm alive because of it." She walked over to him apprehensively. Her fingers touched his chest and she used him to steady herself. Slowly she placed a tender kiss on Damon's cheek. He knew she trusted him, but it took every ounce of strength he had not to try to really kiss her.

When she took a step away, she gave him a weak smile. Damon's phone rung then and he frowned.

"Yes?"

"Jeremy is fine. All the drugs were pumped out of his system before the change could take place. He isn't too happy now and I'm tired of Jenna staring at me like she's scared of me."

Damon laughed at that. "I take it you want me to bring Elena down to the hospital?"

"You're becoming psychic Damon."

"We'll be down there in a few minutes." Damon ended the call without waiting for his brother to respond. Then, he shrugged to Elena. "I guess we need to go."


	3. Chapter 3 The Hospital

a/n: So I LOVE this chapter. It is one of my favorite things I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it too! Also, I would love it if you'd review this chapter. This fan fiction hasn't received as much attention as my other one has. It's really hard for me to keep writing this one right now (even though I adore the storyline) since I'm not getting many reviews. Reviews are the only real way for me to know if people like the chapters and if they want me to continue. I also enjoy reading reviews and seeing what people think is going on. So please review!

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Chapter Three The Hospital

_I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,  
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,  
And in short, I was afraid._  
-The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot

Damon sped down the highway. Far above his head, the clouds captured any light that would have otherwise come from the stars and moon. A flash of lightning occasionally lit up the sky, but other than that, the darkness was impenetrable.

Beside him sat a very quiet Elena. She hadn't said a word since they'd left the house and he sometimes wondered what she was thinking. One of the last things she had told him had been that she felt guilty about having his blood in her veins. That entire thought made absolutely no sense to him. Having his blood in her veins didn't make her any less Stefan's. He didn't know why she saw it that way.

A flash of lightning lit up the road before him and he had to swerve to miss part of a tree that had fallen down. The car came to a screeching stop and Damon glanced across the car to make sure Elena was okay. Her face mirrored concern, but other than that, she appeared completely intact.

"Something doesn't feel right about this," Elena spoke up. He could see the trepidation in her eyes and understood how deeply worried she was right now.

As he glanced down the stretch of road, he couldn't agree more with her statement. The wind had picked up and the trees at the side of the road swayed back and forth in a deathly rhythm. He didn't have any desire to wait and see what happened.

"Do you trust me?" Damon asked as he eyed her apprehensively.

She arched an eyebrow as she looked deep into his eyes. "Damon-"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then hold on."

He turned the car around so it was facing the direction of the hospital. Then, he floored the gas petal. A soft gasp escaped Elena's lips and he could tell she had grasped the edge of her seat. A wicked grin formed on his lips as he maneuvered down the highway. He focused all of his attention on the road, making sure to avoid limps and other objects that had made their way onto the blacktop. He felt like he was racing against this dark storm to get Elena to safety. And getting her somewhere safe was something he vowed to do.

As he entered the city, he slowed down and took in his surroundings. The electricity in the city had been knocked out and only a few of the buildings reflected any light. They neared the hospital slowly. Since no movement came from the area, Damon parked illegally in front of the main entrance and turned to Elena.

"I agree that something doesn't feel right about this," he spoke uneasily. "What I want to do is drive as far away from this place as possible."

Elena was already shaking her head. "I'm not going to do that Damon."

"I knew that," he sighed. "But remember Elena that you have my blood in your system right now. If you die-"

"I know," Elena interrupted. She gazed deep into Damon's eyes. "I'm not going to change my mind about this."

Damon nodded before he turned and opened his door. As he shut his door, he didn't bother locking it. If something wanted inside, it was going to get inside, no matter what Damon did to prevent it.

Elena had started walking toward the entrance, but Damon stopped her quickly.

"Wait," was all he said before he walked to his trunk and examined the interior. He emerged with two weapons: a vervain dart and a long silver dagger.

"Make sure you can use these," he said as he handed the items to Elena. She arched an eyebrow and he shrugged. "If my instincts are correct, we're not going to like what we find inside." The wind roared around him and he had to almost shout for Elena to hear him. "If anything comes at you that isn't vampire, use the dagger."

Elena nodded as she took the dagger in her left hand. She held the vervain dart securely in her right hand to ensure that she could attack as quickly as possible if she needed to. She was desperately afraid that she was going to have to fight.

When they moved into the entrance room of the hospital, Damon glanced around the area. There were no receptionists at the front desk and no people in the waiting area discussing vain things. The area was completely deserted.

"Maybe all the workers are taking care of patients," Elena spoke up and Damon shook his head. He was fairly certain that the workers were laying dead in a closet somewhere. He didn't voice those concerns to Elena, however, as he turned to take in her emotions. He had expected to see fear on her face, and there was, but there was also a large amount of resolve. She was staying here, no matter what she saw.

"Jeremy should be in room 272," Damon said. He motioned toward the stairs. "Just stay behind me."

Damon had never been as tense as he was now. The staircase was dark and even he could barely see what lay ahead of him. But he wasn't remotely concerned for his life. He had no desire to die, but if he did, his life really meant nothing anyway. He was much more concerned about the fragile human who ascended the stairs with him. If something happened and she died, she would Change and that thought stabbed at his core. He wanted to keep her human as long as he possibly could. And if she truly died, he would probably go somewhere and die too. No matter how much he had once loved Katherine, he loved Elena far more. There would be no one after her and that thought scared him completely.

As Damon neared the second floor landing, he peered out of the tiny glass window to check out the hallway. He opened the door then, already knowing that Elena wouldn't like what they saw.

The backup lights had been activated on this floor, but all they did was light the hallway in a shallow pool of green. One of the lights had a glitch in it and continuously flickered in and out. If someone had wanted to make this night into a horror film, they couldn't have staged the scene any better. Amidst all the medical carts were dismembered bodies. Rivers of blood meandered from the walls to meet in a pool in the center of the floor. When the broken light flashed, Damon could see the frozen faces of the people who had screamed for their lives until their deaths. This wasn't something Damon wanted Elena to see, but he knew he couldn't protect her from this.

Damon tuned his senses to the rooms around him, but couldn't hear anything move. A few heartbeats registered from nearby, but he wasn't sure if they were coming from survivors or simply from the wounded who had yet to die. He couldn't bear the thought of looking at Elena now, so he took a few steps forward without even glancing backwards. He could hear her footsteps slowly following him and for that, he was grateful.

When he found room 272, his body froze. A lone bloody hand print was stamped into the center of the door. Damon turned to Elena then and was surprised to see the determination on her face. He turned back around then and pushed the door slowly open. There were no backup lights in this room, or if there were, they didn't work. Even with Damon's vampire senses, it was hard to make out what lurked in the shadows of the room. When he moved into the room to search the corners for bodies, he didn't see any.

"They're not here Elena," Damon finally said.

He could hear her let out a deep breath. "Did you see them in the hallway?"

Damon shook his head. He hated to say the words, but knew Elena needed to hear them. "If Stefan or your family were out in the hallway, it would be insanely hard for even me to find them. Most of those bodies were very mutilated."

"I know," Elena nodded. "But would you please look?"

Damon didn't respond, but moved back into the hallway anyway. The light flickered and cast its greenish glow onto the face of one of the people whose body remained fairly intact. Eyes with a faint spark of life glanced up at Damon then.

Frowning, Damon moved over the body. He didn't know this person, and was grateful for that, but he still felt sympathy for this being. He was obviously in a great deal of pain. He wanted to put the person out of his misery, but knew that he couldn't do that with Elena so nearby.

Then, he moved from the dying man toward a room a little farther down the hallway. He opened the door quickly and frowned when he saw what was inside.

"It's Damon," a female voice said as she raced across the room. A male moved from his hiding place then and frowned at Damon.

"Of course _he's_ here," the male spoke up.

"Mutt," Damon smirked. "And Caroline. How pleasant."

As Matt stepped out into the hallway, he took in his surroundings. A look of uneasiness swept across his face as he took in the large amounts of blood and gore around him. But before he could move back into the room, Elena's arms were around his body.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Elena said as she tightened her grasp on Matt. When she pulled away, she looked deep into his eyes. "Have you seen any of my family? Or Stefan?"

Matt shook his head and Damon could see how defeated Elena became. "Tyler's in that room though too," Matt said as he motioned to the room he'd been hidden inside. "He started running a fever and passed out just before the attack began."

"Did you see the attack?" Elena asked quickly.

"No," Matt began. "But we heard it."

Damon had already moved into the room. Tyler's body was sprawled across the bed. Although Damon wasn't too excited about carrying the boy, he picked him up anyway and slung him over his back. When a scream echoed from the hallway, Damon raced to see one of the most bizarre scenes he had ever witnessed in his entire lifetime.

The man who Damon had felt sorry for only minutes earlier was crawling slowly across the floor. He had apparently grabbed onto Elena at one point, but she'd stabbed him with the dagger. That hadn't stopped the man from moving, but instead, seemed only to anger him. He was in the process of standing up when Elena struck him with the vervain dart. The man's body crumbled back to the ground with a deep meaty sound.

"Run," was all Damon had to say to get the humans moving. The bodies that hadn't been decimated were all beginning to stir with inhuman movements. Some parts of their bodies were reattaching themselves and even Damon was disgusted. He had never seen anything completely like this before and was sick of being in the dark.

When they left the hospital, he was greatly relieved to see that his car was still in one piece. He quickly threw Tyler in the back and watched Caroline and Matt pile in around him. Damon gave one glance to make sure Elena was okay before he climbed in and started the car.

"Where are we going?" Elena asked as she buckled her seat belt.

"Away," was all Damon said before he drove into the dark.

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a/n: Please review!


	4. Chapter 4 The Aftermath

a/n: Thank you so much for the reviews from the last chapter. They were amazing. :) This chapter is much slower and starts to explain everything that went on at the hospital. I hope you enjoy it! And please review!

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Chapter Four The Aftermath

_The muttering retreats  
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels…  
To lead the overwhelming question  
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"  
_-The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot

Elena felt like crying as she settled into the small motel room. Damon had only stopped driving when the first rays of the morning sun appeared on the horizon. Now, they were miles from the hospital and any chance she had of finding the answers of what happened the previous night. She knew Matt had heard most of what had happened, but that didn't help her find her family or Stefan.

Almost as soon as Damon dropped them off at the room, he had disappeared. Elena wasn't completely sure where he'd gone, but was positive that she wanted him back. Right now, he was part of the only real protection they had.

Disgusted, Elena turned her attention to the room. It was painted the ugliest shade of yellow she had ever seen in her entire life. The bedspreads were a dark brown that did little to match the green and yellow carpet. Elena wasn't sure who had made the choices about how these rooms were designed, but she was fairly certain they hadn't been renovated since the 1950's. This rundown room was insanely depressing, and with everything that had occurred, Elena didn't feel like anything could lighten her mood.

The people in the room looked almost like statues. Tyler had woken up about three hours ago and had yet to say a word. He kept staring out the window as if he was waiting for something to come after them. Caroline sat on the edge of one of the beds and kept glancing from the window, to Elena, to Tyler, and then to Matt. Tears lingered on the edge of her eyes, but didn't fall. Finally, Elena looked at Matt. He stared at the television screen and listened to reporters explain the event at the hospital. They suggested a series of serial killers. Personally, Elena thought they could be more creative than that.

Walking across the room, Elena grabbed the remote and put the television on mute. Then, she turned to Matt and looked deep into his eyes.

"You have to try to explain all of this to me," Elena said softly. "We need to know what happened."

Matt frowned. "It doesn't make any sense Elena."

"I'll believe whatever you say."

He nodded slowly as Elena sat down in the seat next to him. "Tyler had just found out that his father had been killed when we were allowed to go in and see Caroline. While we were walking to her room, we saw your family. They told me about Jeremy and everything that had happened. I planned on only staying in Caroline's room for a few minutes before I went and checked on you." He offered an apologetic look as he glanced to Caroline.

"Then I went in Caroline's room. Tyler looked awful. He kept saying that he was okay, but I could tell he was burning up. Sweat poured from his face and he kept wiping it off. He got up and said he was going to go get some air when he passed out. The power went out then and only some of the backup lights came on. It was very hard to see. Caroline got up from the bed then and helped me put Tyler where she had been."

"That's when I heard the first scream." Caroline's voice was just above a whisper. Elena turned to her quickly and saw the look of terror on her face. "People kept screaming over and over again. I could hear bodies hit the walls outside our room." Her eyes had gone almost blank. "I saw someone stand in front of our door. I could see his shadow in the greenish light that filtered in underneath the door. He just stood there though."

When Caroline didn't continue, Matt picked back up. "We waited in the shadows for a while. When the door opened, I thought we were dead. Instead we saw Damon. And then you." He looked straight at Elena. "I don't know what happened to Jeremy, Jenna, Alaric, or Stefan. I'm sorry."

Every fiber in Elena's being had hoped that Matt's description would give them the answers they needed, but she was only left with more questions. If someone had mercilessly slaughtered the people in the hallway, what had prevented them from harming Tyler, Caroline, and Matt?

As Elena turned her attention back to Caroline, she noticed the strange manner Caroline was conducting herself with. She occasionally glanced at Tyler and looked like the entire thought of being next to him made her sick. Tyler's gaze never turned to Caroline though. He continued to look out the window and to watch for something he thought was coming.

The door of the room opened then and caused all of them to jump. A smirking Damon entered the room and threw bags of McDonalds onto the first bed. Matt didn't waste a second to move toward the food, but Tyler still glanced toward the window. Caroline looked like she was going to throw up and instantly took off for the bathroom.

"Where were you," Matt asked before he took his first bite of the hamburger.

"Getting food," Damon shrugged. "I have exquisite tastes."

A smile crossed Elena's lips for only a second before she turned to the food. Despite the fact that she wasn't hungry, she knew she needed to eat. There was no telling when she'd be able to get food again.

She grabbed a hamburger from the bag and offered it to Tyler. He took it almost mechanically and continued staring out the window as he ate.

Sighing, Elena grabbed one for herself and sat down on the edge of the bed where Caroline had been only minutes earlier. The girl had yet to return from the bathroom, and Elena wondered if she was alright. When Elena swallowed her last bite of food, she got up to go check on her friend. Instead of walking toward the bathroom, she was stopped by Damon.

"We need to talk Elena."

She nodded before she motioned toward the bathroom. "Just let me check on her first."

"I can check on her," Matt said as he stood up. Even though he seemed eager to check on Caroline, he appeared hesitate to let Elena go. "Just stay close."

"I will," Elena nodded. She glanced up at Damon then and offered him a weak smile. "Lead the way."

As they moved outside, a wave of heat knocked against Elena's being. The day had become drastically hot even in the short amount of time they'd been in the room. Elena had to fight to breathe in a normal fashion. She felt like the heat was smothering her. The only good thing from the heat was that it reminded Elena that she was alive.

Damon moved away from the door and out into the sunlight. When they had checked into the motel, Damon had made sure that they received a room on the first floor. He apparently thought people would come after them too and wanted to be ready to run if they did.

For a little while, they just walked. Damon didn't seem thrilled to start his conversation. He kept looking toward the trees that lined the motel. When they stood underneath the shadow of the nearest trees, he finally spoke.

"I drove to the nearest town to check things out," he began slowly. "I watched the news talk about the hospital attack."

"We watched the news for a while too," Elena interrupted.

Damon nodded before he looked deep into Elena's worried eyes. "This isn't something vampires just do Elena. We kill, but rarely try to cause a scene like this."

Elena thought back to the large amount of blood and broken bodies she had seen. With the large amount of blood that stained the area, it was hard to believe that vampires had been the only party involved here. They would have drained the bodies dry. Instead of empty bodies, they'd found a fountain of blood. What other creatures lurked in the shadows that Elena didn't know about?

"So who else do you think was involved?" Elena crossed her arms over her chest.

"When the vampires were rounded up, Tyler's father was with them." Damon ran a hand through his dark hair. "He wasn't a vampire Elena. Even though he was affected by the device, the vervain didn't bother him."

"What do you think he was?"

"I need to do a little more research before I know for sure," Damon replied. "I've never encountered a werewolf before, but I've heard rumors some were in the area. Maybe that's what he is."

"And is Tyler safe to be around us?"

"As long as you have that silver dagger."

Nodding, Elena smiled weakly at Damon. "Have you heard anything from anyone?"

"I've tried to call all of them Elena," Damon frowned. "I can't get a response from anyone."

"Do you think they're safe?"

"With Katherine involved, I don't think anyone's safe." He let out a deep breath. "There's something else you need to hear."

Elena wasn't sure how things could get any worse. "Go on."

"The tomb vampires were the ones attacked by the Council last night. Most of them burned up in that building. Whoever we're facing now is much stronger. And they wanted to make a statement of attacking the night the vampires were supposed to be killed."

"My happiness is abounding."

A laugh escaped Damon's lips. "Who knew Elena Gilbert could be sarcastic?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"I don't think so," Damon grinned.

With that, Elena turned and walked back to the motel room. When she opened the door, she was taken back by what she saw. The Caroline who had been sick only minutes earlier was now sitting on the bed devouring a hamburger. An empty wrapper lay beside her and Elena wondered if she had eaten that one too.

"I'm glad to see you're better," Elena remarked as she sat down by Caroline. Beside her, Matt shrugged.

"Everything I saw last night really bothered me," Caroline began. "I'm just starting to get back to my old self."

"The old self who eats two hamburgers?" Elena laughed. "I've never seen you eat anything that greasy before."

Caroline shrugged indifferently. "I didn't know they tasted this good."

Nodding, Elena turned back to Tyler. His expression was grave and instead of his gaze being focused on the window, it was now locked on to Damon. He was sweating again and looked like he was running a fever. Elena was just about to ask him if something was wrong when he glanced back to the window and screamed.


	5. Chapter 5 Returning Home

a/n: I'd like to thank everyone again for reviewing. I had originally planned on making this story mostly about Elena and Damon, but recently decided to add in the other characters. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And please review. =)

* * *

Chapter Five Returning Home

_Before we packed our bags,  
And left all this behind us in the dust,  
We had a place that we could call home,  
And a life no one could touch._  
-Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against

As Tyler's screams filled the room, Elena spun to face the window. Whatever Tyler had seen was no longer in view. Instead, the door to the motel room squeaked and turned and caused everyone in the room to tense up. When the door finally opened, Elena was met not with an adversary, but instead saw the smiling face of Bonnie.

"Sorry," Bonnie mumbled as she entered the room, but Elena was already hugging her.

"I'm so glad you're alive," Elena smiled as she forced herself to let go. Then, she arched an eyebrow. "How did you get here?"

Bonnie's green eyes glanced to Damon. "_He_ called me."

"It's nice to see you too," Damon smirked.

Then, Bonnie's gaze turned to Tyler. "Did I scare you that much?"

"I just thought," Tyler began, but never finished his comment.

By this time, Caroline was up and moving toward Bonnie. "Is it bad there?"

Slowly, Bonnie nodded. "People are going crazy there. No other attacks have occurred, but people are hording food and supplies in their homes. The authorities have issued a curfew that will begin tonight."

Caroline sank back onto the nearest bed. Her blue eyes looked up hopefully at Bonnie. "And my mother?"

"She's fine. I talked to her before I left and told her I was going to find you."

"Then let's go back," Caroline said quickly. "We can't just stay at this motel for the rest of our lives." She shuddered. "And what's to stop them from coming here?"

Inwardly, Elena let out a sigh of relief. Despite the fact that Caroline knew little of what lurked in the shadows, she did understand enough to know that the incidents would keep occurring.

"Can we go back?" Elena asked as she looked into Damon's eyes.

"No." Damon replied quickly. "We're going to run as far away as possible from that horrendous place. And when we get as far away as possible, we're going to keep going."

A frown crossed Elena's lips as she crossed her arms. "And how would Stefan feel about that plan? We have to save him."

"We don't _have_ to do anything," he stated sharply. "I want revenge on the harlot who screwed my life up," he continued. "But I'm not about to throw you in harm's way. And if something happened to you, Stefan would never forgive me."

"It's a good thing you've never wanted his forgiveness then," Elena smirked. "Face it Damon. The only way we stand a chance in this whole mess is if we go back and find out what happened to my family and your brother."

A growl escaped Damon's lips, but Elena didn't back down. Instead, she confidently stood her ground.

"If we go back," he said slowly. "You have to do everything I tell you to."

Elena narrowed her eyes. "No."

"Then we're not going."

"I'll just ride with Bonnie."

A true grin crossed Damon's lips then. "I'd love to see you fit all your friends in her car."

Her anger blared. "I will _walk_ back if it means I can save my family."

At first, she thought Damon was going to argue with her again, but then, he just shrugged.

"If you want to die, I'll go back and die with you."

"Why Damon, have you become a romantic?"

"Just a masochist," he smiled wickedly. "Are we going or not?"

* * *

As Elena leaned against the armrest in Bonnie's small Volkswagen Beetle, a smile crossed her lips. The seating arrangements had taken only seconds to decide and she knew Damon wasn't happy with the result. Since Caroline seemed intent on staying with Matt, and Matt seemed focused on being with Tyler, the only real solution was for them to ride with Damon. Elena didn't fight against the decision since she needed this time to talk to Bonnie about everything that had gone on.

"I don't think Tyler's a werewolf yet," Bonnie said slowly. Elena had already described Damon's suspicions of the boy and asked Bonnie for her input. "I think he has to kill first. And if he did kill, we would know about it."

"Is there a certain time the kill has to take place?" Elena asked softly.

"The full moon," Bonnie replied.

"And when is that?"

She kept her gaze focused on the road in front of her. "We still have a few nights."

Part of Elena wanted to ask how many nights a "few" was, but she couldn't bring herself to ask the question. If her feeling was right, each night would become progressively worse until the full moon took its place in the night sky. Then, she had no idea how they would survive.

"We have to tell them Elena." Bonnie's voice was just above a whisper. She had glanced from the road and her concerned eyes met Elena's for a few moments.

"And do what?" Elena almost laughed. "Tell them witches and vampires and werewolves are real? And that there's a woman out there who looks exactly like me that isn't me at all? How much sense does that make?"

"Give them more credit. Caroline has been through a lot lately so I don't think it would take a lot to convince her of the horrible situation we're going through. Plus, Matt still cares for you. He'll believe whatever you tell him."

"And Tyler?"

"I think he already knows," she said softly. "We need all the help we can get now. Our daylight hours are going to seem like nothing compared to everything we have to get accomplished."

Elena's mind was already going through all the possibilities. "I'm deeply hoping that Damon can get into Alaric's home, especially if your locating spell doesn't work."

"As long as no one is protecting Stefan's location by using some form of magic, we'll be able to find him," Bonnie replied.

Raking her hand through her hair, Elena sighed. "Do you think this will work?"

"I just don't know Elena. I feel like Stefan would walk through fire for you. If he's able to get to you, I don't know why he hasn't tried."

At those words, Elena fought to keep herself composed. Finding Stefan was one of the most important tasks they had right now. And if something had happened to him, she wasn't completely sure what she would do.

* * *

Later that day, Elena sat at a table at the library and looked across to Matt. She had recounted the events that had taken place during the previous year slowly, and had stopped occasionally to answer questions Matt had. Thankfully, he hadn't asked too many questions. He just normally nodded or stared at her.

"And all of this is real?" he asked uncertainly as she finished.

"Yes."

"I'm glad you told me." Matt's blue eyes met her brown ones and she found herself smiling. "I'm not sure I understand any of this," he continued, "but I accept it."

"Thank you." Elena let out a deep breath. "Now, the research begins." She motioned toward the pile of books around them and found herself frowning. She had split up from the rest of the group to take Matt to the library to see what information they could find on werewolves. While she was off catching Matt up, Bonnie was debriefing Caroline and attempting to convince her that everything was real. Damon had left almost as soon as they arrived to find what he vaguely called "answers." In the meantime, Tyler had gone to check on his mom and deal with the fact that his father had died only the previous night.

"Hm," Matt mused from across the table. He had picked up a book on werewolf mythology and was thumbing through it quickly. Finally, he landed on a page that had a werewolf drawn on it. "This talks about ways to figure out if someone is a werewolf, or if they have the werewolf gene inside of them."

"And what signs does it give?"

"Apparently werewolves have hair on the palm of their hands." He frowned. "And they like raw or almost raw meat." He shook his head. "It lists hundreds of different ways people can be identified as werewolves. Most of these seem contradictory."

Elena shrugged. "We need all the ideas we can get. I'd like to have a good amount of research before we talk to Tyler about this."

"I don't see that discussion going well."

"Me either," Elena breathed.

Then, she turned her attention back to the book she possessed. It appeared about as contradictory as Matt's book had been. This book discussed different legends of how one became a werewolf. Although Bonnie and Damon had both alluded to the fact they thought the curse was hereditary, the book had much more interesting views. It stated that one could become a werewolf (or lycanthrope, as the book put it) by mixing their saliva with a werewolf's saliva. There was also a legend that stated that a person could become a werewolf by drinking rainwater from a footprint of a werewolf. Elena smiled at that one. Her mind filled with images of a thirsty hiker taking a drink of water and regretting that decision his entire life. But then her smile turned to a frown. This whole mess was real and wasn't to be taken lightly.

"And Damon really thinks silver will kill werewolves?" Matt asked as he glanced up from the book.

"Yes," Elena nodded. "And he's had enough experience with otherworldly creatures that I trust his judgment."

A visible shiver ran down Matt's spine, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he closed his book.

"We only have a couple more hours until we're supposed to meet back at Bonnie's," Matt spoke up. "If we're the ones who have to go to the grocery store, we probably need to leave now."

Elena frowned. "We can check out a few of these books and read them tonight."

"Or we could just use the internet," Matt grinned. Elena rolled her eyes, but a smile was on her face too.

"It's nice to know that I can talk to you about all of this now," she said softly.

"I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me." He was already on his feet. "Let's go."

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	6. Chapter 6 The Crash

a/n: Thank you so much for the reviews for the last chapter. It was nice getting to read what everyone thought. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I couldn't find a song that completely fit what I wanted the opening lines to convey so I decided to write my own. Please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Six The Crash

_The water was so cold,  
As I fell beneath its dismal waves,  
And in the darkness I called to you,  
To save me from this lonely grave. _

"We don't have time for this," Caroline huffed as she piled into Bonnie's small car. "It's almost dark."

"I can't change what I saw Caroline," Bonnie snapped. "If it comes true, are you okay with the fact that you stopped me from saving Elena?"

At that, Caroline stopped fighting and buckled her seat belt. With a small nod, Bonnie turned her attention back to her vehicle and put her car in drive. It took her only a few seconds to pull out of her driveway and start her journey toward the lake.

"What if you're wrong?" Caroline's voice came quietly from beside her. "I don't want to be trapped out after dark again."

"We'll get back before the sun goes down," Bonnie replied with more courage than she felt. "Right now, we just have to worry about getting to Elena in time."

"And if we don't?"

"Then she dies."

* * *

Elena felt nervousness claim her body as Matt sped down the highway. It was getting far too close to dark and they were still a good distance from Bonnie's house. Despite the fact that they had gone to the grocery store three hours earlier, the place had been so packed that it had taken close to two hours to gather their supplies and check out. Matt had just wanted to go back to Bonnie's house after that, but Elena knew that she wouldn't be able to rest until Bonnie tried her locating spell. Thankfully, Matt had agreed to let Elena run to the Salvatore residence to get something of Stefan's just in case Damon hadn't. Elena currently held Stefan's worn jacket in her hands and prayed that they got back to Bonnie's house before night fell.

Just as Elena glanced to the sky, large drops of water pounded onto the windshield. The rain and the fog added to Matt's obvious speeding violations to make their journey almost impossible. They were passing woods now that looked ominous in the red sunlight. Up ahead was a bridge that Elena felt wary about crossing. The bridge had always been one of the more beautiful landmarks in Mystic Falls, but now, it just felt like a deathtrap. Going 70 mph with rain and fog didn't seem like a good combination.

"Matt, you might slow down," Elena spoke up, but it was already too late. They were only a few feet from the bridge when they hydroplaned. The car skidded across the wet road and plummeted into the grass beyond. Elena let a soft scream escape her lips when the car didn't stop and plunged into the lake below.

For a moment, the car stayed on the surface of the water. That moment shattered quickly and the icy cold water filled the car. As the water raced over Elena's feet, she pushed herself up into the seat. She tried to open her door, but it wouldn't budge.

"What do we do?" she asked quickly. When she glanced over to Matt, she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. As she reopened her eyes, she took in the situation.

Apparently Matt had hit his head on something when they wrecked. He had a wound on his forehead that was bleeding profusely. He wasn't conscious and Elena hoped that he was still alive.

By this time, the water was almost as high as the bottom of the seat. Elena shifted and made sure that Matt's head was leaned against the back of his seat. As she positioned his neck, she felt for a pulse. Thankfully she found one, although she realized how useless Matt being alive would be if she didn't manage to get them out.

Almost a year ago, Elena had watched a Myth Busters episode that had talked about how to get out of a vehicle when it was going underwater. Her mind recalled the almost impossible conditions that had to be present to get out of a vehicle after it had started sinking. Unfortunately, she knew that there would be no way for her to get out, especially with Matt.

Still, she found herself searching for any possible escape they could make. Part of her mind told her that there was still enough of Damon's blood in her body to transform into a vampire, but she wasn't sure how long the transformation would take and she didn't want to take the chance that Matt would die during that time.

The water was pouring into the car now and it came up to the bottom of Elena's ribcage. She closed her eyes and focused on the connection she felt to Damon. She could feel his blood flowing inside of her body and that connection helped give her strength during this time of crisis.

_Damon_, she breathed. _I'm trapped underwater and can't get out. _

Elena shifted in her seat, but made sure to keep her seatbelt on. She knew when the water pressure increased that it would be hard to keep herself near the door. Although she was afraid her seatbelt wouldn't unhook when it was supposed to, she pushed back her fears and focused again on Damon.

_Damon,_ she repeated. _Help me._

Elena fought to keep her breathing normal so she could conserve the small amount of oxygen still left. The water was at her shoulders and she had to hold Matt's head up to keep him above the water. Her nerves were starting to get the best of her and she had to blink back tears. She had no desire to become a vampire, especially in these conditions.

She glanced into the water that consumed the car and saw a figure in its murky depths. The man came to her door and motioned for her to take a deep breath. She shook her head quickly and motioned toward Matt. The man frowned, but obeyed.

Uncertainly, Elena unbuckled her seatbelt before she moved over to Matt's side of the car and wrapped her body in his seatbelt. The next few minutes were going to be vital for all their lives.

Elena took one last breath before Damon pulled the door off the car. There was a brief moment where she felt like she wasn't going to be able to hold on, but then she was surrounded by water and forcing herself to unbuckle Matt. Damon grabbed onto Matt and pulled his body quickly from the car. Then, he was swimming toward the surface.

Without wasting a moment, Elena used the seat to push herself from the vehicle and toward the surface. Damon had already disappeared and she hoped Matt was safe.

When she broke through to the surface, she gasped for much needed oxygen. Damon was moving back into the water to get to her, and she had to brush him off to be able to swim on her own. As she reached the rocky shore, she heaved herself out of the water. Only when she was beside Matt did she collapse.

"Can you get through one day without me saving you?" Damon smiled as he fell down beside her.

Elena fought against the need to respond with sarcasm. "Thank you Damon," she said softly as her brown eyes made contact with his blue ones. Her gaze remained on him for a moment too long before she turned to Matt. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He needs to get to the hospital," Damon half laughed. "But as you know, that isn't a choice." He let out a deep breath. "He'll be okay though. We just need to get him back to Bonnie's house."

Damon didn't wait for Elena's answer to move and pick up Matt's limp form. They walked toward his car in silence, but as they neared his vehicle, another car approached.

"You're okay!" Caroline shrieked as she jumped out of the barely stopped vehicle. She embraced Elena in a fierce hug before she looked to Damon. As Caroline's light eyes took in Matt's body, she let out a muffled gasp. "Is he going to be okay?"

"We just need to get him to Bonnie's house," Damon repeated. He was clearly losing his patience. "And we need to hurry." His blue eyes glanced to the horizon where the sun was barely visible. Soon, they would be at the mercy of whatever creatures lurked in the night.

Thankfully, Caroline turned back around and climbed into Bonnie's vehicle. Bonnie nodded at Damon as he passed her in a sign of thankfulness, but remained silent. Elena smiled warmly at her friend, but didn't slow down to give her the hug that she so desperately wanted. Right now, they just didn't have time.

As Damon placed Matt's body in the backseat, Elena got into the passenger seat and buckled up. Bonnie was already pulling back onto the rain-soaked road and into the fastly approaching night. With catlike movements, Damon flung himself into the driver's seat, closed his door, and started his car.

The trees sped by as Damon maneuvered over the slick roads and through the dense fog. He was a much better driver than Matt and didn't care to break speed limits, even with the rain. It took them only a few minutes to catch up to Bonnie. And even though Elena knew Damon needed to focus on the road, she couldn't keep her silence anymore.

"Can I ask you a question?" Elena said softly. Her brown eyes took in Damon's taunt frame as she waited for his response. A wicked grin crossed his lips that had her arching an eyebrow.

"You do realize that asking me if you can ask me a question is asking me a question, right?"

Elena frowned. She was in no mood for his playfulness right now. "Damon-"

"You can ask me any question you want to," he interrupted.

Her eyes watched his every reaction as she spoke slowly, "When I was underwater, could you hear me calling for you?"

"Yes."

A shiver raced down her spine that had nothing to do with how cold she was. "So you can feel this connection between us?"

"Yes."

She let out a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "How long will this last?"

"A couple more days," he smiled. "Does it bother you Elena?"

She hated his taunting voice so she didn't respond. Instead, she glanced into the twilight and saw the silhouette of Bonnie's house in the distance. Right now, the darkness was only one of the many things she had to worry about. And if they didn't find answers soon, she wasn't sure how they'd survive.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	7. Chapter 7 Bumps in the Night

a/n: Thanks so much for all the reviews I received on the last chapter. I'm really excited about this chapter too. I also included a diary entry in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it and please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Seven Bumps in the Night

_Hush little baby, don't say a word,  
And never mind that noise you heard,  
It's just the beast under your bed,  
In your closet, in your head…_  
-Enter Sandman by Metallica

_Dear Diary,_

_Today, my heart broke. It wasn't a gentle breaking, but instead, more like a hurricane racing over my soul. I was in a car wreck and that experience was one of the worse I've ever had. This wasn't like the first wreck I was in; it was far from it. In the icy water of the lake I had absolutely no power to save Matt. And if I would have died, I would have become a vampire. I've never really liked the idea of changing, it's actually one of the last things I want to do, and the idea of not dying when Matt could have consumed me. I've never felt so helplessly alone before. _

_But he saved me. That seems to be the chorus of my life right now. Every time something bad happens, he's there. He isn't the type of person who comes riding in on a white horse to save me. He's more of the type who claws his way through the shadows to make room for the light. And when I was at the bottom of the lake, light was all I wanted. _

_At the bottom of the lake lies Matt's car and Stefan's jacket. I had hoped Bonnie could use the jacket to find Stefan, but when Matt's life was in jeopardy, the jacket was an afterthought. Thankfully Bonnie used my vervain necklace, but the results were far from joyful. Bonnie didn't get any feedback from her spell. Although she stated that there were many reasons the spell didn't work, my heart fears the worst. I love Stefan and I'm not sure what I would do without him. _

_Stefan… He almost seems like an afterthought himself lately. It's been so hard to stay focused on him when the world around me is falling to pieces. And with Damon's blood humming through my veins, it's really hard to focus on anything. I just want things to go back to the way things were before Stefan went crazy on human blood. I want to helplessly love Stefan, hate Damon, and forget everything about Katherine. But I know I can't go back in time and change things. I'm force to bear these burdens and find somehow to live with them. And as much as I hate to admit it, I don't think I'll ever hate Damon again. And I'm not sure I want to..._

* * *

Damon watched Elena as she wrote in her diary. She had obviously never been to bed. She still wore the jeans and t-shirt she had donned after the car wreck. Her brown eyes were scrunched in concentration, but that didn't hide how tired she looked. The weight of the past day was bearing down on her shoulders. She wore the weight well, but Damon could see the toil it took on her.

"Damon," Elena breathed as her brown eyes met Damon's blue ones.

"I was just getting ready to go get something to eat." Damon smiled his infamous rogue smile. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"I'm glad I caught you" Elena replied as she closed her diary. She laid it gently on the coffee table beside her. "I didn't know you'd go out during the night."

"I have to feed Elena." He leaned against the wall.

"I know." Her eyes filled with an intense sadness. "I just don't want to take the chance of losing you too."

Damon tried not to let her words affect him, but he couldn't stop the wave of happiness her words brought. Although Damon felt a slight tinge of joy from the fact that she was worried about him, he shook off that feeling. She was his brother's, not his.

Slowly, she brushed her long brown hair to the side to reveal her pale neckline. "If you have to feed, take what you need from me."

"No," Damon shook his head quickly. He knew far too well the consequences that that act would bring about. "I'm not going to feed from you, and if you don't want me to go out, I'll want until morning."

"Thank you," Elena said softly. Her eyes almost looked sad and he tried not to read too much into it.

Ruffling his dark hair, Damon walked over to Elena and sat next to her on the couch. "You've been through a lot the past few days."

"Really?" Her voice was close to a laugh. "I learned that Katherine was back. I almost died and you gave me your blood to save me." She was counting the events on her fingers now. "Stefan and my family are missing. I learned that werewolves are real. Then I learned that Tyler could be one. I actually told Matt about vampires. Then I almost drowned. And now, Matt has a concussion and we don't have a hospital for him to go to." She frowned. "I think saying I've been through a lot is a vast understatement."

A smile crossed his lips. "At least you're alive."

"Barely." She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Do you really think Matt is going to be okay?"

"It's just a slight concussion, Elena. If we survive this, he probably needs to get it checked out. Until then, however, he'll be perfectly fine."

Seemingly satisfied, she relaxed against the back of the couch. "How do you do it?"

"How do I do what?" He flashed his dashing smile.

"How do you stand to get close to people who just end up dying?" she asked simply.

Millions of thoughts flashed through his mind then. He wasn't used to getting close to people. In fact, Elena was one of the first people he had truly opened himself up to. Maybe that had been a mistake.

"I'm not close to anyone," he lied.

Elena frowned. "Don't give me that Damon. I know you better than that." Then, she arched an eyebrow. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Are we going to go through this again?" he asked with a smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Please be serious."

"I'm as serious as a heart attack." He laughed as she winced at his cliché.

"When Katherine hurt me," Elena began hesitantly, "she obviously didn't want to kill me. If she wanted me dead, I would be."

"And your question is?"

"If it came down to me dying or you changing me, which one would you have done?"

A wave of shock enveloped Damon's being as he stared at Elena. He knew his surprise reflected in his eyes for a minute, but he quickly hid it. The truth was he'd thought about that exact situation thousands of times. Although he knew that he couldn't live without this frail human, he also had no desire to curse her to this lifestyle. And for some reason, he knew his love for her would outweigh any logical decision he would make on his own.

"What would you want me to do?" he finally asked.

"I want to be human," she said slowly. "But I also want to protect those I love. And as long as they're in danger, I want to become a vampire."

"You mean you're not willing to give up your mortality for Saint Stefan?" Damon gasped.

She playfully punched him as a sad smile crossed her lips. "Not yet."

And Damon knew he shouldn't have read too much into her answer, but he did. The disaster that occurred from him kissing Katherine had made him promise himself that he wouldn't touch Elena unless she came to him. He would also never touch her as long as she was Stefan's. He had absolutely no desire to feel the rejection he'd felt when he'd realized he'd kissed Katherine instead of Elena.

As he stood up, he offered Elena a weak smile. "Go to bed Elena. You're going to need all the strength you have in this upcoming war."

* * *

Tyler woke up with sweat pouring off his body. He had never felt this hot before and instantly checked his forehead for a temperature. As he yanked his hand away, he scrunched his eyebrows in frustration. He was definitely running a fever.

Slowly, he tossed his legs over the side of the bed and crossed the room. The only other person in the room looked peaceful in his sleep. To Tyler's horror, he could hear Matt's blood flowing through his body. When Tyler closed his eyes, he could hear Matt's heart beat in a strained fashion. And oddly, Tyler's brain was calculating the exact force it would take to kill Matt.

_Get a grip_, Tyler thought as he backed against the wall. As his fingers made contact with the painted drywall, his body was overwhelmed with sensations. He no longer simply felt smooth or hard, hot or cold, wet or dry. Instead, he felt varying degrees of all of them at once.

Then, a fierce anger swept through Tyler's veins. He glanced to Matt in utter fury as he thought about their past year together. Matt had been one of his best friends, but that friendship had been tested throughout the year. Right now, Tyler didn't care if his friend lived or died.

He was at Matt's side before he could stop himself. His fingers trailed the skin of Matt's neck as Tyler was devoured by the need to kill. Matt stirred in his sleep and that motion drove Tyler on. If Matt woke now, there would at least be a struggle before he was killed.

Matt's lazy blue eyes opened slowly and looked to Tyler in confusion.

"What are you doing man?"

"Um." Tyler snapped out of his bizarre trance. "You didn't look like you were breathing," he began. "I was just checking your pulse."

"Well I'm alive," Matt said harshly as he sat up. "You can get your hands off me now."

As Tyler backed away from Matt, thousands of emotions raced through his being. He had never been that consumed with rage before and he didn't like feeling that out of control.

Letting out a deep breath, he sat back on the edge of his bed. He ruffled his hair before he glanced back at Matt. Tyler knew that if he didn't get this under control soon, he'd do something he regretted.

He settled back into bed and tried to go to sleep. But when he finally fell into the realm of unconsciousness, all his dreams were filled with blood and pain.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	8. Chapter 8 The Sickness

a/n: Thanks to those of you who reviewed my last chapter! And thanks to those of you who have added me to your favorite authors or stories section. Just please remember to review too. That's the only real way for authors to know that people are reading their stories.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Hopefully it will answer some of the questions you have and hopefully instigate even more mysteries. Enjoy!

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Chapter Eight The Sickness

_I'm listening what they say,_  
_Feeling less and less ok,_  
_But it's the same old story,_  
_How do i fix my head?_  
-How Do I Fix My Head by Straylight Run

Bonnie walked along the small dirt pathway at the park and tried to think of the right words to say. Tyler strolled beside her, but kept completely silent as he glanced repeatedly at the trees on both sides of them. He seemed on edge, and with everything that had happened, Bonnie couldn't really blame him.

Although the previous night had been relatively calm at Bonnie's house, Mystic Falls as a whole hadn't been as lucky. The first night the enemy had made sure to wipe out the hospital and all means they had of healing the wounded. Last night, they had attacked the power station. No one in the city had electricity and rumors were that it could take weeks for the power to be restored to everyone who was affected by the disaster.

Personally, Bonnie didn't see how much more Katherine could scare the population of Mystic Falls. People were already locked inside their homes. They only ventured out to gather the supplies they needed to survive. Even now, when the morning sun glistened in the sky, the only person that Bonnie could see was Tyler.

"I know what's going on inside of you," Bonnie finally spoke.

"And what would that be?" Tyler tried his best to smile, but that smile quickly turned into a frown.

"You're a werewolf," Bonnie said confidently. Her green eyes looked to Tyler to take in his reaction. His muscles visibly tightened as if he was going to run away, and his eyes glistened with something close to hatred.

"If I'm a werewolf, then you're a vampire," he tried to joke.

A smile crossed her lips as she shook her head. "Actually, vampirism is reserved for Stefan and Damon. I'm a witch."

"I don't know what you're on Bonnie, but whatever it is-"

"You know I'm speaking the truth," Bonnie interrupted. "I can even prove it to you if you want me to."

"I'd love to see how you're going to do that."

Unfazed, Bonnie walked over to a nearby tree and pulled a few leaves from a low branch. She let a grin cross her lips as she moved back to the pathway and glanced at Tyler. Slowly, she allowed each of the leaves to fall from her hands and toward the ground. Before they hit the earth, however, she stopped them and allowed them to float in the air. When all of the leaves were hovering in the air, she let them drift up until they were at her eyelevel. Tyler's eyes were wide with shock and fear as he realized everything he thought was actually real.

"How did you know I was a werewolf?" he finally spoke up.

"It was Damon who figured it out," Bonnie replied. Then she let out a deep breath. "He saw your father die."

"What?" That statement brought shock and anger into Tyler's features.

Gathering all her strength, Bonnie stood her ground. "Your father was part of a group of people known as the council. They had planned on using a special device to immobilize the vampires in the area and then burn them. The device was only supposed to target vampires, but apparently, it targets other creatures too. Your father fell to the power of the device, and ended up burning in the fire. Damon was in the building too, but he couldn't move for a long time. He barely got out before he died too."

"But you said he couldn't move for a while. How did he end up saving himself?" Tyler asked suspiciously.

Bonnie sighed. "I helped save him. I didn't know your father was in the building or I would have tried to save him too."

Overwhelming pain consumed Tyler's eyes. "Is that why I'm changing now?"

"I think so," Bonnie nodded slowly. "I think you started changing the second your father died. And with your father dying so close to the full moon, I think your change is going to be very hard."

"Does part of my change have to do with having anger problems?"

"Yes." Bonnie arched an eyebrow. "Are you already experiencing them?"

He nodded slowly and Bonnie let out a deep breath. Everything seemed to be happening so quickly. They just needed a little more time.

"Am I already cursed?" He spoke up after a long moment of silence. "Is there anyway I can stop this change from happening."

"Yes." Bonnie looked deep into his eyes then and offered a weak smile. "The only way you're going to change is if you kill on the night of the full moon."

"And if I make it through?"

"I think you'll be curse free."

Tyler glanced up toward the sky before he finally looked back at Bonnie. "I guess a 'think' isn't that bad right now."

"I wish I could do better."

"How long do we have until the full moon?"

"Five nights," Bonnie said softly. "And that's including tonight."

"So I have five nights for this insanity to get worse?"

"Yes."

He let out a deep sigh as he shook his head. "You're going to have to barricade me in a room by myself. I don't trust myself right now."

"I understand." Bonnie smiled as she gently squeezed his hand. "We'll figure something out."

"I hope so."

* * *

Damon frowned as he watched Elena come closer to him. They had been practicing for some time and she still wasn't getting much better in her attacks. After Damon had stolen some of Alaric's weapons from his house, he had promised to show the humans (and witch and werewolf) how to use the weapons to fight against vampires. Currently, Elena held one of Alaric's vervain darts in her hand, but didn't look too confident in her abilities to take him out. When she lunged forward, he quickly sidestepped her and shook his head.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you're going to help take Katherine out," Damon spoke.

Elena narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms. "I'm doing the best I can Damon." Then, she glanced down at the vervain dart in her hand. "Do you actually trust us to be around you with vervain darts like this?"

Grinning, Damon took the dart from her hands. She uncrossed her arms then and he liked that she was less hostile toward him now. "I filled the darts we're using to practice with water. It's probably going to hurt a little, but it won't weaken me. Besides," he truly smiled now. "You're not going to hit me anyway."

"Then let's start practicing again," Elena said as she yanked the vervain dart back. She moved a few feet away and offered her own confident grin. "Come and get me Damon."

As Damon took a slow step toward her, he was surprised to see her stand her ground. In the last couple attempts she had retreated before she attacked. Now, she stood her ground and waited for him to make his move.

The problem was, when they actually fought the legion of vampires controlled by Katherine, the humans wouldn't be able to know what the vampires were doing until it was too late. Still, if they launched their own surprise attack, there was a chance their battle strategy wouldn't turn into a suicide mission. And personally, he had no desire to send Elena into a war without teaching her every possible thing he could.

Damon moved to where he stood directly in front of Elena and waited for her to make her move. Her brown eyes searched his blues ones. They stood in that silence, staring at each other, for a few seconds before she finally attacked. He could see her muscles contrast before she even moved. And when she did, he grabbed onto the dart and pulled it from her hands. Then, he tossed it aside and used his frees hands to grab onto her neck.

"You would be dead," he said flatly, almost sadly. "You're going to have to do better than that."

"I know," she huffed. She moved out of his grasp, and picked up the vervain dart. Then, she moved back into his personal space. "I don't want to die in this Damon."

"Of course you don't."

"Then teach me," her brown eyes looked to his for answers. "Show me what I need to do."

Damon was trying to stand his ground, but it was hard with her so close to him. If he wanted to, he could have wrapped his arms around her body now. He wasn't sure if she realized how close she was to him.

Then, she stabbed him. It was the last thing Damon had expected so he didn't have time to react. The water entered his veins and sent a jolt of pain through his body. After a second, the pain passed and he frowned at Elena.

"What was that for?" He asked as he pulled the dart from his body and tossed it to the ground.

"To prove I could stab a vampire," she replied boldly. A smug smile was plastered across her face. "I'm not as helpless as you think I am."

"And you're not going to catch a vampire off guard like that."

"I got you."

"Well I'm different." He grinned that dashing smile of his. "I thought I could trust you."

She was still smiling and didn't move from the close proximity they had found themselves in. "I think it's pretty clear that the only way I'm going to hurt a vampire is if I catch him off guard. How do we do that?"

"Offer up Caroline as a sacrifice?" Damon shrugged. "If the vampires were attacking her, you could probably take out a few of them."

"Any other suggestions?"

"None that I can think of." But his lips were pursed in concentration. "Whoever is fighting you will probably want to feed on you instead of killing you quickly. You'll have a moment where you can stab them with the vervain dart."

"And what about Katherine?" Elena asked softly. Her brown eyes were gazing into his eyes. "How do we kill her?"

"She'll want to torture us all. Hopefully one of us will be in a position to take her out while she's busy with the others."

"What if I turned?" Elena's voice was barely above a whisper. "Would that help?"

"Possibly," Damon replied slowly. "But we're not doing that."

"Why not?" Her anger was visible now and she crossed her arms over her chest. "It's my life Damon. It's my decision."

"And you want to stay human Elena," Damon almost shouted. "You told me that last night. We're not going to mess with your mortality. We'll find another way to win."

"Okay," Elena said sharply.

In that instant, Damon wondered if he'd spend his entire existence making Elena angry at him. "Let's start practicing again."

* * *

Caroline sat in the living room at Dr. Reed's house and glanced at her surroundings. The room was dark with its scarlet red and deep gold color scheme. Despite its use of warm colors, the room looked far from inviting. Instead of feeling like a place of refuge, it felt more like a death trap.

After calling her mother, Caroline was advised to take both herself and Matt to the doctor's house to have everything checked out. The doctor had seen Matt first and had taken him to a spare bedroom off the first floor. Personally, Caroline didn't see why the doctor couldn't see them both in the living room. The doctor had spoken of privacy, but Caroline didn't really care about that. She and Matt were dating; there was nothing that she wanted to keep secret from him.

A frown crossed her face as she thought about the real reason she was here. She had woken up quite frequently the previous night and had been violently sick. Her body had been devoured by fever, and even when she stood in front of the fan, her body still burned. She had checked her temperature and the results had been shocking. Although she knew it was impossible for her to run a fever of 112 degrees, that had been what the thermometer had told her. Right now, she just wanted someone to figure out what was going on inside her body.

And Caroline had hated the look Dr. Reed had given her when she'd described her symptoms. As Caroline had talked about the sickness she experienced during the night and early mornings and her odd food cravings, the doctor had given her an of-course-she-couldn't-do-any-better glance. Caroline knew what that look meant, but she also knew the doctor was completely and totally mistaken.

A door opened to her right and Caroline turned to see Dr. Reed walking toward her. The doctor looked tired and dark circles lined her eyes. She sighed as she sat down on the couch beside Caroline.

"There isn't much I can do with either of you since most of my equipment was destroyed in the hospital incident," Dr. Reed spoke truthfully. "The few tests I was able to give you came back perfectly normal. It doesn't look like anything is wrong with you."

"And what about Matt?" Caroline asked as her blue eyes gazed into the doctor's brown ones. "Is he going to be okay?"

"All of his tests came back normal too. If he starts experiencing any acute head pains, however, you need to bring him to me as soon as possible."

"I can do that," Caroline nodded. Her eyes shifted their gaze toward the hallway and saw Matt walking toward them. "Are we free to go?"

"Yes," Dr. Reed replied as she stood up. "Just be careful out there. It's been a madhouse lately around here. I don't want you two getting hurt."

"Thank you." Caroline offered the doctor a smile as she walked toward Matt. He looked tired and she knew this entire ordeal had to be hard on him. No one was safe right now and they all had so much to lose.

Since Matt looked exhausted, Caroline let him lean on her as they walked out the door. They had just reached Caroline's car when a frown crossed her face. She dug in her purse for her keys and quickly unlocked the door and helped Matt inside. Then, she motioned back toward the house.

"I think I left my phone in there. It'll just take a second."

Without waiting for a response, she took off toward the house. Since she had just left the house, she saw no real reason to knock. Instead, she just opened the door and stepped into the entrance hall.

For some reason, the deep darkness of the house consumed her and sent chills down her spine. She rubbed her arms to bring warmth to her body, but even the heat didn't erase the coldness she felt. Thankfully, she saw her phone on the nearest coffee table. She didn't see Dr. Reed anywhere, so she just picked up her phone and turned to leave. When she heard the doctor's voice drift from a nearby room, however, she froze.

"I think I found one," she spoke. "All of the tests prove that outcome." Then silence. "Yes, I do understand what this means. And I agree that her mother can't know. This revelation could change this entire war."

Caroline tried not to breathe as she listened to the phone conversation. Apparently the doctor knew much more about her condition than she had let on. And although Caroline wanted answers, she knew the danger she was in.

Slowly, she backed up. The door seemed so far away and the doctor's voice had become much softer. If Dr. Reed hung up before Caroline got out of the house, she wasn't sure what she would do.

A crash echoed through the almost silent house when Caroline hit the nearby coffee table. She turned in surprise to see that a picture frame had crashed to the floor and broke into thousands of pieces.

"I just heard something. I'm going to go check it out."

Caroline didn't even wait to see what would happen. She turned and raced out of the house as quickly as possible. Since the doctor undoubtedly heard her leave, Caroline didn't bother closing the front door on her way to the car. She practically threw herself in the driver's seat and started the car quickly.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked. His blue eyes were looking to her in fear.

"I just heard something I wasn't supposed to hear," Caroline replied as she backed out of the driveway. "I don't think the doctor's going to be too happy with me."

Caroline glanced back to the house one final time as she put the car into drive. Standing in the doorframe of the house was Dr. Reed. Her arms were crossed and her brows were creased in obvious annoyance. Caroline forced herself to look back to the road as she pushed down the gas pedal. She had come here to find answers, but now, she was just left with more questions. Despite the fact that she had no idea what was going on inside her body, this trip had highlighted how important it was for her to find the answers. She just hoped she found them in time.

* * *

a/n: Will Tyler be able to handle his anger issues? Can Elena figure out how to fight vampires? And what's going on with Caroline? Please review!


	9. Chapter 9 Partial Confessions

a/n: Thanks to everyone for the amazing reviews on my last chapter. I'm going to attempt to finish this fan fiction before the next season starts. Hopefully I'll be able to. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Nine Partial Confessions

_Slip in this certain knot of peace,  
I'm keeping silent, keeping silent 'til in turn it keeps me,  
Won't you remain with me?_  
-Oh Charitable Thief by O'brother

Caroline pushed her way into Bonnie's house and was greeted with silence. She hesitated long enough to make sure that Matt made it into the room before she disappeared up the staircase.

"Bonnie," she called as she dashed down the hallway. "Elena? Is anyone here?"

Cursing, she raked a hand through her long blond hair. She needed someone to talk to. Why was no one here?

She walked into Bonnie's room and frowned at the stillness of it. Slowly, she crossed the room, her shoes echoing slightly against the hardwood floor. A shiver raced down her spine as she pushed the thick curtains aside and let some light into the otherwise dark room. She had hoped to see someone in the backyard, but still, there was absolutely no one in view.

Frowning, she turned around and screamed.

"I'm sorry," Tyler spoke up. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Caroline offered him a smile that she hoped was sincere. "It's okay. I just didn't hear you." Caroline shook her head to try to clear it. "Where is Bonnie?"

"She's trying to get a generator going so we can take turns charging our cell phones. She's afraid we'll have to separate at some point and won't be able to communicate."

"That makes sense," Caroline replied as she crossed her arms over her chest. Despite the fact that Tyler was acting friendly, she had reserves against being alone with him while he was fighting his change. "I probably need to go check on Matt," she said as she vaguely pointed downstairs. She smiled at Tyler before she stepped around him and walked out of the room.

When she was in the hallway, she glanced back toward Tyler. He hadn't moved from his location and his dark eyes looked to her with confusion and a tint of warning. A shudder passed through Caroline's body before she turned back and walked down the stairs. Tyler was definitely freaking her out and she didn't want to take the chance of becoming his first meal.

Before she went back to Matt, she walked by the kitchen. Elena had placed the silver dagger Damon had given her on the counter, and right now, Caroline didn't want to take a chance of being hurt. She picked up the blade, but dropped it quickly.

She screamed as she looked down at the cut that she had inadvertently given herself. Blood flowed freely from the wound and it didn't appear to be slowing down.

Quickly, she raced over to the sink and ran water over her cut. As the cleansing water washed away the blood, part of the pain dispersed. After a few seconds of letting the water clean the wound, she grabbed a dish cloth from a nearby drawer and pressed it to her hand.

"Are you okay?" Matt said as he entered the room. Caroline turned to him fluidly and offered him a weak smile.

"I was spooked and tried to grab that knife," she replied as she motioned toward the dagger. "I was in such a hurry that I didn't pay attention to where I was grabbing it."

Frowning, Matt grabbed the blade and walked over to the sink. He took a few seconds to clean the metal before he dropped the knife in the sink and turned to Caroline.

"Let me see it."

Slowly, Caroline pulled back the cloth and revealed the wound.

Even Caroline had to bite back a gasp when she saw the cut on her hand. She had expected to see a deep gash, but instead, she saw a small scratch.

"There was so much blood," Caroline breathed as she held up her hand and turned it over. After examining it for a few moments, she looked to Matt with wide eyes. "I think my hand healed itself."

"What?" His blue eyes searched her for answers.

She held up her hand for him to see the small scar that remained. "Something's happening to me Matt." Her voice was scared.

"We'll figure it out," he said as he wrapped his arms around Caroline. And despite the fact that she wanted to believe him, she simply couldn't. Nothing about this felt right.

She collapsed into his embrace and silently hoped that for once, she was wrong.

* * *

Bonnie stood in her garage and attempted to move the generator a few more feet toward the door. A smile crossed her lips as she watched Tyler enter the over-packed room.

"Do you need some help?" he asked.

"I would love some," Bonnie replied as she motioned toward the generator. "I'm not sure how long we'll be able to run this anyway. I'm afraid to run it after dark. There's no telling who or what would destroy it."

Nodding, Tyler picked up the generator like it was nothing. "Where do you want to put this?"

"In the backyard," Bonnie shrugged. "I don't really want people to know we have one, but it needs to be outside. I've read far too many horror stories about people dying when they tried to use one indoors."

Tyler smiled at that. But as he sat the generator on the soft grass, a frown crossed his face. "I think something is happening to Caroline."

"What?" Bonnie arched an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.

"I feel drawn to her," Tyler replied truthfully. "And I feel like I need to prove myself against her. I know that sounds odd, but my werewolf side feels connected to her."

"Connected how exactly?" Bonnie didn't look thrilled.

"Not romantically connected," he said slowly as he ruffled his dark hair. "It's more like she's powerful too. Sometimes, I feel like we're competing for the same thing and we can't exist in the same place together." Then he laughed. "How ridiculous does that sound?"

"Maybe whatever is growing inside of her is evil in nature too," Bonnie replied. Without even realizing it, she had closed the distance between them. Now, she gently squeezed his hand for support. "I plan on doing whatever it takes to make sure we all make it through this."

Tyler was no longer simply looking at her, but instead was gazing into the depths of her green eyes. Bonnie saw surprise and a spark of revelation shine behind his dark orbs as he took a hesitant step toward her. For a second, she thought about retreating, but she stood her ground and looked at him in wonder.

He held both her hands now and used that connection to slowly move forward. When he noticed that Bonnie wasn't going to move away, he leaned in hesitantly and gently kissed her on the lips.

At first, Bonnie felt her body freeze from the shock of it all. Then, she leaned into the kiss and lost herself in the contact. Although she had always found Tyler attractive, his attitude had prevented her from ever imagining a relationship with him. But now, she didn't see him as the rich jerk she had always thought he was. Now, he was a boy lost in the depths of a curse that he couldn't completely control. And underneath it all, Bonnie liked what she saw.

When Bonnie broke the contact, she offered him a sad smile. "We need to grab all of our phones and charge them before the sun goes down," she said before she glanced to the sky. It was late in the afternoon and if they didn't hurry, they were going to run out of time.

"Yeah." His eyes looked sad. "I want to be able to enjoy these last few hours of light."

Bonnie wrapped him up in her arms. "You're not the monster the werewolf tries to make you."

"I hope not," he replied sadly. Bonnie pulled away and gave him a quick kiss before she turned and disappeared inside.

* * *

"Damon, we have to go," Elena said impatiently as she glanced to the window at the end of the upstairs hallway in the Salvatore Manor. The sun was already starting to set and they were still a good distance away from Bonnie's house. She had no desire to be trapped underwater again.

"I'm trying to hurry Elena," Damon snapped from inside his room. Sighing, Elena leaned into the doorframe and glanced at the area around her.

"How would you ever find anything in here?" she said as she crossed her arms. "Where did you get all this stuff?"

"Here and there," he replied distractedly as he threw clothes from his closet onto his bed. "I swear it was here before Elena."

"And you've never explained what the 'it' was." She sat down on the edge of his bed and watched him continue to rummage through his clothes.

"It was a necklace Emily gave me," he said slowly. "I never thought it was of any importance until now. Maybe it was part of another device she bewitched to use against vampires."

"Then why not just ask Bonnie about it? I want to be able to get to her house before night falls."

At that, Damon stopped throwing clothes and turned to face Elena. His blue eyes looked to her with something close to hope. "Let's just stay here tonight."

"What?" Elena gasped as she stood up. That was the last thing she had thought she would hear.

"It makes sense on multiple levels." He was almost rambling. "We can search the house for different things to use in this war. I'm sure some things have been left here that we could use. And we wouldn't have to worry about racing back to Bonnie's house." He grinned wickedly. "I could also use a snack."

A smile crossed her lips as Elena shook her head. In actuality, she didn't completely trust herself to be alone with Damon, but she understood the logic of what he was saying. "Okay," she nodded slowly.

Although Damon tried to hide it, Elena could see how happy he was that she had agreed to stay. She knew the dangerous waters she was sailing in and also knew she had to get out of the room.

"I'm going to go try to light the wood in the fireplace," she said as she vaguely motioned toward the door. "Just keep looking for your item."

"I will," he replied. Even as she left the room, Elena felt Damon's gaze on her. She tried to keep her breathing normal, but knew Damon could sense the uneven beat her heart played. Although she kept telling herself that she was still with Stefan, a darker part reminded her that she didn't even know if he was still alive. She tried to shake off that darkness, but it clung to her tightly.

It didn't take her long to light the wood and then she was left with nothing really to do. She rubbed her arms to try to bring some warmth to her body, but even that didn't help. Sighing, she walked over to the couch and tried to think of something useful she could do.

She held her cell phone up and frowned at the small amount of battery power she had left. She desperately needed to change it, although she knew it would have to wait until the morning. She just hoped that nothing happened during the night.

When she heard movement, she glanced up to see Damon enter the room. She offered him a small smile as he crossed the expanse and sat down beside her.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked softly.

"No," he shook his head. "I don't think it's here anymore."

"Then where is it?"

"That's a very good question," he sighed.

Nodding, Elena looked deep into his blue eyes. The silence lingered for a few minutes before she gathered up the courage to speak. "Do you ever think about our dance?"

"Yes," he replied as he gazed into her deep brown eyes. "That's one of the many times I've wanted to kill Stefan."

"And why was that?"

"Do I really need a reason to kill Stefan?" Damon grinned. But then he turned more serious and shrugged. "He let you down Elena. You didn't deserve that."

"I think I did," she whispered. "Sometimes I'm afraid I'm going to be exactly like her."

"Exactly like who?"

Before she could even speak, she could see the myriad of emotions that flashed across his blue eyes. She saw surprise and confusion, a hint of happiness, a wave of sadness, and then a flood of anger.

"You are _not_ like her," Damon cursed. "The very fact that you have a soul proves that."

"Then what makes me different from her?" she asked softly. "I'm with Stefan and-"

She shook her head as her phone rang. She picked it up quickly and saw that the call was coming from Bonnie.

"Is everything okay?" she asked as she answered her phone.

"So many things have happened Elena," Bonnie replied. "Are you coming back here tonight?"

"No," Elena spoke as she glanced to Damon. It was easy to tell that he was listening in on the conversation. "What's going on?"

"Tyler is locked up in the basement and we have to keep watching Caroline because she wants to hurt him. We learned a little while ago that Caroline's body is healing itself when she gets hurt. That was a neat revelation. And to top it off, I just had a vision."

Elena's breathing hitched. "What did you see?"

"I saw them Elena," she spoke quickly. "I know where they are. I know where Stefan is."

* * *

Please remember to review!


	10. Chapter 10 The Exchange

a/n: First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed my last chapter. I loved reading what everyone thought. This chapter was quite a battle to write. It took me a good amount of time to actually decide how I wanted to approach this chapter. I'm fairly pleased with the results. I hope you enjoy it and please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Ten The Exchange

_I think I might've inhaled you,  
I could feel you behind my eyes,  
You've gotten into my bloodstream,  
I could feel you floating in me._  
-Bloodstream by Stateless

Damon sat in near silence while Elena and Bonnie worked on their plan to rescue Stefan and Elena's family. Occasionally he would speak up, but overall, he just let them figure out the details.

His mind was reeling from everything that had happened so far. With a touch of luck, he had managed to convince Elena to stay here with him tonight. He knew that thought made her nervous, but she had still agreed to stay. And she had almost confessed a deep secret to him.

He shook his head as he thought back to that. He had no desire to repeat the past and have his heart broken again. And if they rescued Stefan, Elena would once again find comfort in his brother's arms.

When he no longer heard Elena's voice, he turned and looked in her direction. She had a frown on her face and was gazing at her phone.

"It died," she said simply when she made eye contact with him.

A grin crossed his lips. "Did you and Bonnie solve all of the world's problems before it died?"

"We started," Elena smiled, but then she turned more serious. "She said they're being held in the original Lockwood house."

"Hm," Damon mused as he draped his arm over the back of the couch. "That could be interesting."

"And why is that?"

"It's almost a taunt," Damon replied. "I'm sure Katherine knows we have Tyler. And she's pretty much saying that Tyler belongs to her."

"Well that's fun." Elena huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you think we'll be able to get them back?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But I'm sure we're going to go through with this no matter how unlikely the chance is that we'll live."

"We have to try."

"I know." He had no desire to show Elena how much her happiness and acceptance meant to him, but there were many questions he needed to ask her. "Do you ever blame me for Stefan's disappearance?"

Elena frowned. "Why would I do that?"

"I told him that I would be the better choice to protect you. If it wasn't for me, you would have him and I would be out there with your family."

"I don't blame you for that." Her brown eyes searched his blue ones. "I would be dead without you."

"Or undead," he grinned. But then he shrugged. "You're such an odd specimen."

"I'm the odd one?" she smiled. "I feel like I'm the normal one of the group."

He truly laughed at that. "You hang out with vampires and witches. How normal could you be?"

She shrugged. "At least I don't drink blood."

"Which reminds me," Damon spoke as he stood up. "I need a drink."

Elena stood up too. "I actually had a question I wanted to ask you."

"And it is?" he grinned wickedly.

"You can hear my thoughts since your blood is in my veins. If my blood was in your veins, could I hear your thoughts?"

"Possibly," he shrugged. "If I let you. Why does it matter?"

"If we could communicate telepathically tomorrow, we would have a greater advantage against the enemy."

"Who said you were going in there?" Damon smiled.

"It makes sense Damon," she said as she crossed her arms.

"Stefan would kill me."

"Since when have you cared what Stefan thinks of you?"

He truly grinned then. "I never said I cared," he made clear. "I just don't want to deal with him trying to kill me. Hiding dead bodies is such a nuisance."

Elena rolled her eyes, but a smile remained on her lips. "Please try this. I don't want tomorrow to be a suicide mission."

Narrowing his eyes, Damon studied her features. She seemed sincere, although he knew she didn't understand how hard it would be for him to have her blood in his veins. If he did this, he knew the consequences. Tomorrow, they would rescue Stefan and everything would go back to the way it was before this nightmare started. Elena would once again be on her quest for her happily ever after and Damon would once again be alone.

He eyed Elena warily as he contemplated his decision. He tried to justify his choice by saying that she had come to him and that this process wasn't as intimate as he thought it was. But then his logic broke in, and told him that this would be the last night he ever had with her alone. And if he couldn't bear to be around her and Stefan after this, he'd wait until Katherine was gone and then disappear. Then, they'd never have to worry about him again.

"Are you sure about this?" he finally asked.

"I don't want my family to be hurt," she replied softly. "I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that they're saved."

Nodding, Damon closed the distance between them and gently brushed her long brown hair out of the way. His blue eyes locked with her brown ones when he was only a few inches away.

"Just relax," he whispered. "That will make this easier for both of us."

She let out a deep breath and smiled weakly at him. He slowly moved his mouth down to her neck. He placed a gentle kiss there first to see her reaction. When she didn't move away, he sank his fangs into her body.

He had never completely understood his feelings for Elena until now. She reminded him of humanity in its most basic form. She made him feel like he still had a reason to live.

When she intertwined her fingers in his hair, a shock tore through his body. He could suffer any amount of pain for the rest of eternity if it meant she was allowed to be with him too.

Slowly, he pulled himself from her and masked all of his emotions. She looked at him with resolve.

_Can you hear me?_ he teased as he projected his thoughts to her.

_Yes_, she nodded, but then frowned. _I feel odd, _she confessed.

_Why?_

_Even when Stefan took my blood, it wasn't like this. I feel completely connected to you. _

_Then I'm going to try something. _

She nodded. A gasp escaped her lips when he projected an image of the Grand Canyon in her mind. He showed her the feel of the wind as it brushed over his hair and the feeling of insignificance as he gazed into a canyon he couldn't see the bottom of. When the image faded, she looked to him with wide eyes.

"Was that one of your memories?" she breathed as she looked deep into his blue eyes.

"Yes," he nodded. "I've never shared my memories like that with someone before."

"Thank you for letting me be the first," she replied softly as she smiled. "Have you ever shared your blood with someone like this before?"

"Once," he said. "And that didn't end well."

"I'm sorry," she said as she softly squeezed his hand. He jerked away from the contact though.

"It's not your fault she was a monster," he shrugged. Ruffling his dark hair, he turned away from Elena and focused on the fire. He watched the deep orange and vibrant red dance in the fireplace as they fought to consume the wood.

"You deserved better than her." Her voice came from behind him. He turned around slowly and looked at the girl who looked so much like the first woman he had ever loved.

"I _did _deserve it," he made clear. "I screwed up my relationship with my brother to be with a girl who cared little for me. Everyone would have been much better off if I would have died back then."

"Don't say that."

"Shut up Elena," he snapped. He hated being mean to her, but all he could think about now was the bond they shared. And he refused to think of that bond when tomorrow night she'd be back in his brother's arms.

"Whatever," she retorted as she marched back over and grabbed her dead phone. "I'm going to bed Damon. If you get out of your horrible mood and want to talk, you know where to find me."

Frowning, Damon watched Elena disappear up the stairs. Both of them were tense from the intimacy of what they just shared and he had no desire to make her anymore mad at him than she already was.

* * *

Bonnie looked down at her phone and frowned. Whatever plans she was going to make with Elena would have to wait until the morning. Hopefully they would all make it until then.

A scream echoed in the distance and Bonnie raced toward its origin. When she entered the living room, she shook hear head in frustration.

"What's going on?" she snapped as she watched Matt try to restrain Caroline.

"If I don't get to him," Caroline huffed as she fought against Matt, "he's going to kill us all."

"Caroline I swear if you go near Tyler, I will set you on fire," Bonnie spoke as she gazed into Caroline's blue eyes. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," she nodded as she pulled herself away from Matt. "I can behave myself Bonnie."

"I'm not sure about that," Bonnie said softly as she glanced to Matt. "Can you make sure she stays away from the basement?"

"I'll try," he replied. "I found out a few minutes ago that she has a mean right hook."

A smile crossed Bonnie's lips as she pictured Caroline actually hitting someone. Caroline seemed to be ignoring the conversation going on between Bonnie and Matt. Instead of focusing on them, she was staring at the basement door with a look of pure determination in her eyes. All of a sudden, she took off for the basement and Bonnie had to tackle her to stop her from opening the door.

"Get a grip Caroline," Bonnie snapped as she moved away from the blond haired girl. "You're not going to kill Tyler."

Caroline stood up slowly, took a quick glance at the door again, and then shrugged. "It'll be your funeral, not mine."

With a flick of her hair, Caroline turned and marched upstairs. Matt turned to Bonnie then with wide blue eyes.

"Is she going to be okay?" he finally asked.

"I hope so," Bonnie replied. "We have to figure out what is going on with her soon. If we don't, I'm afraid we'll all end up dead."

Nodding, Matt looked back toward the stairs. Bonnie followed his gaze and saw Caroline standing at the top and staring at them.

As Bonnie shook her head, she crossed her arms. "I'm ready for this to be over."

* * *

Elena made it to the upstairs hallway before she started shaking. She leaned against the wall and sunk down to the cold floor so she didn't have to support the large weight she felt. The guilt of the last few minutes was bearing down on her body and she could barely handle the pressure.

She had never meant to go that far with Damon. Despite the fact that she hadn't kissed him, she still felt guilty over the far too intimate moment they had just shared. When she closed her eyes, she could feel him inside of her. And tomorrow they would get Stefan back and she'd be expected to go back to how things were before this nightmare happened.

She let out a deep breath as she looked down the dark hallway. Nothing moved in the darkness, but it still made her nervous. She knew she wasn't completely safe here, but with Damon below, she wanted to believe that nothing bad would happen.

Slowly, she forced herself to stand up and take a hesitate step toward the darkness. A crash echoed in Damon's room and she froze in her spot. Then, she heard a bone-chilling scratching sound drag itself across Damon's floor. She shivered, and tried to take a step back.

_Don't move_, she heard Damon say in her mind.

She nodded in response as he snuck past her and toward his room. When she could no longer see him, she tip toed down the remaining expanse and looked in his room.

The sight was absolutely terrifying. Damon stood in the bright moonlight that came from the gibbous moon outside. Standing on his window ledge was a raven. Its black wings glistened a deep blue in the light and its eyes looked to her with warning. In its beak was a silver chain that had a crescent moon charm at its end.

With little warning, the raven flew out the window in a flutter of black feathers. When Elena finally glanced to Damon, she saw the frown on his face.

"That was Emily's necklace, wasn't it?"

"Yes," he said before he turned to face her. "Let's stay downstairs tonight. I don't want you to be far away from me anymore."

Elena nodded. She took once last glance at the open window before she walked away from the dark room. Apparently Katherine was aware of the necklace Emily had given Damon and understood the power it contained. Although Elena and Damon had no clue what the necklace did, Elena had never been more certain that its effects would be devastating. She just hoped they'd be able to survive this.

* * *

a/n: Please remember to review!


	11. Chapter 11 The Promise

a/n: Wow. I was amazed when I logged on and saw all the reviews for my previous chapter. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review. I hope you continue to enjoy my story. And without further ado, here is my chapter. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Eleven The Promise

_Living lives just like dear in the headlights,  
Terrified blind and wait to die,  
I wonder when they'll come get me,  
I wonder when they'll come get me._  
-Hands in the Sky by Straylight Run

Elena stood in the thick grove of trees and glanced at the original Lockwood Mansion. When she had learned about the location Stefan and her family were being housed in, she had expected to see a rundown cabin in the middle of the forest. Instead, she saw a beautiful two-story house that appeared to be in perfect condition. Apparently someone had been doing maintenance work on this house for many years to ensure that they could use it whenever they needed to.

Looking away from the mansion, Elena gazed at the three people who stood beside her. First, she took in Bonnie's demeanor. She looked slightly nervous, but resolved to save the people inside at any cost. Personally, Elena couldn't have beeen prouder of her friend. Even though Bonnie had issues with Stefan, she was currently casting aside those differences to help Elena save those she loved. Elena couldn't have asked for a better friend than that.

Beside Bonnie stood Tyler. His involvement in this rescue had been debated for a long time before they had decided to let him come. Although they had no idea how he would react around the creatures inside, they needed another body. And since Matt still wasn't up to par, they had decided to let Tyler come and allow Caroline to stay at Bonnie's house with Matt. As Elena thought of the vastness of the Lockwood Mansion before them, she wished they had the extra bodies.

Then, Elena turned to Damon. His face reflected a look of pure hatred as he stared at the house before him. His blue eyes didn't gaze from the front door and she wondered what he thought was behind it.

_Can you get in?_ she finally asked.

He shook his head. _I don't know. I haven't been in this house since I was human. I'm just not sure if Katherine has a person living there to make sure I can't get in. _

_So I'll go first? _She spoke and Damon glared at her. But after a few seconds, he nodded.

Then, he turned and motioned for Bonnie and Tyler to sneak around to the back of the house. Elena looked to him and frowned.

_Is it wise for them to split up from us like this? _she asked.

_I think they're more than capable of taking care of themselves, _Damon replied. _You're the one who needs protecting, not them. _

_I'll be fine, _Elena nodded. _Let's just go. _

Elena climbed down the steep slope toward the house, slipping on slick grass on the way down. She hid in the thick forestation around the building while she made her way toward the front door. When she stood on the porch, she crouched underneath one of the windows and waited for Damon to join her.

_I did a quick scan of the area, _Damon said as he crouched beside her. _I don't see anything Elena. _

_Then let's hope this rescue mission is an easy one, _she shrugged. She moved toward the door slowly and gently pushed it open. For a few seconds, she stood by the side of the entrance and let the light filter into the dark expanse. When she was certain that nothing moved in the shadows, Elena quickly entered the house.

"Come in Damon," she whispered and he was at her side in seconds. She tried to find some comfort in his presence, but the silence of the house was more than she could handle. She moved out of the way and allowed Damon to take the lead. A staircase stood only a few feet away that led up to the upper level of the house. Elena wondered if that was where the captives were being held when she heard footsteps coming from the next room. A shiver raced down Elena's spine, but she was able to relax when Bonnie and Tyler came into view.

Bonnie shook her head as Elena looked to her with questioning eyes. Then, Bonnie pointed up the stairs and Damon took his first step into the darkness.

Elena waited until Damon was close to the top of the stairs before she followed him up. She had no desire to be trapped on the staircase when the enemy decided to attack and knew the more spread out they were, the better chance they'd have of surviving this mess.

As she stepped onto the second floor, she took a moment to take in her surroundings. She stood at the beginning of a hallway that had four doors that branched off of it. There were no sounds that echoed from the expanse and that made Elena even more nervous.

When Bonnie and Tyler stood in the hallway, Damon pushed open the nearest door and looked inside. He disappeared out of Elena's line of vision and she was forced to move to see what he was doing.

As Elena gazed into the room, she had to bite back a gasp. The room housed no furniture except for a lone chair that stood in the middle of the room. Strapped to that chair was Jenna. Tears were falling from her eyes, but no sound escaped her lips because of the tape that was across her mouth. Damon raced to her side and motioned for her to be quiet. In only a few seconds, he had her restraints untied and the tape off her mouth.

Hesitantly, Jenna stood up and moved away from her chair. Elena gave her a quick hug before they turned and left the room.

Damon walked to the next room and opened the door. The room looked almost exactly like the previous one had, but instead of seeing Jenna strapped to a chair, Elena saw Alaric.

Without even stopping to untie Alaric, Damon moved to the next door. While Jenna went in and helped Alaric, Elena chose to follow Damon. In this next room, she saw her brother. She felt a wave of relief wash over her being as she realized that Jeremy was going to be okay. She went in the room and helped untie Jeremy while Damon moved to the final room.

It didn't take long for Elena to unfasten Jeremy's restraints. When she did, she gave him a quick hug and moved toward the last door.

Damon still stood in the doorway of the room and gazed inside. Elena walked to his side and looked in the room too.

For a few seconds, Elena just glanced back and forth between Damon and Stefan. Then, she pushed past Damon and entered the almost empty room.

Since she wasn't sure if they were completely safe, she only offered Stefan a smile as she untied the vervain-coated ropes that held him prison. When the ropes fell to the ground, he moved from the chair and embraced her in a fierce hug.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," Stefan breathed as he finally released her.

Elena smiled weakly at him. "I'm glad you're okay."

Stefan held onto Elena's hand as he turned back to face Damon. Damon's face held no emotion except for a slight tinge of anger.

"There's no one here," Damon finally spoke. "They just let us take you."

"Why would they do that?" Elena asked as she broke her contact with Stefan. "Why not put up a fight?"

Damon leaned against the doorframe. "Katherine is stating that no matter who we have, we'll still lose. Stefan and your family weren't even important enough for her to put up a fight to keep them."

"And you're sure there's no one here?"

"Completely."

_I hate her, _Elena projected before she could stop herself. She looked to Damon with wide brown eyes and watched him shift slightly. His gaze was on her, but he didn't speak or project anything to her.

Hesitantly, Elena glanced over to Stefan and noticed that he was staring at her with a look of confusion on his face. Although he didn't understand what had just occurred between Elena and Damon, Elena could tell he knew something had happened.

Before Stefan could say anything, Elena pushed past Damon and moved out in the hallway. As she took in the faces of her family members, her body relaxed slightly. Maybe now they could all be safe.

With one last glance back at Stefan, Elena walked away from the room and toward the staircase. Katherine would regret ever letting Stefan and her family go. They would become a force that was so powerful that not even Katherine and her minions could destroy them. Elena would make sure of that. And when Katherine did decide to show her face, Elena would ensure that the demon would never bother anyone again.

* * *

Caroline sat in the living room at Bonnie's house and felt completely useless. She had cleaned different parts of the house, flipped through a magazine that lay on the coffee table, and then took a brief run around the block. Now, she felt like there was nothing left for her to do.

With a sigh, she stood back up. Matt had taken a few moments to inform her how crazy she had been the previous night. Truthfully, Caroline remembered little of the events that had occurred. The only feeling of the previous night that she even remotely recalled was her overwhelming hatred of Tyler. And if that feeling never returned, Caroline would be perfectly fine with that.

Since Caroline had acted so terrible the previous night, Matt had disappeared into one of the spare bedrooms to try to get some more sleep. She knew he probably wasn't sleeping much, and was instead worrying about the safety of their friends, but at least he was attempting to rest.

Walking across the room, Caroline glanced outside. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to wait too much longer before everyone was back in the house and talking about the amazing rescue mission they had accomplished. In that beautiful future, everyone would be safe and no one would be hurt.

A frown crossed Caroline's lips as she noticed someone standing across the road. The person stood perfectly still and was studying the house and area around it. At first Caroline blinked multiple times to ensure that she wasn't making this figure up. When the person's silhouette was still visible across the road, Caroline moved from the window and opened the door.

"Elena," she said as she walked out into the harsh sunlight. Elena started walking toward Caroline then with a stern expression on her face. When she stood only a few feet from Caroline, Caroline had a strong desire to retreat back into the house. Despite the fact that this girl looked exactly like her friend, Caroline knew in that instant that this person wasn't Elena.

For a few seconds, Katherine studied Caroline. Katherine rounded Caroline and took time to size her up. When she was once again in front of Caroline, she let a large grin cross her face.

"I've underestimated you," Katherine mused. "I never imagined you would have so much power inside your body."

Caroline tried not to even breathe. She had been told about the insanity of this woman and didn't want to make her attack.

"It's okay that you don't like me now," Katherine continued as she gazed into Caroline's blue eyes. "You'll learn to love me. And you _will_ be mine."

With those final words, Katherine turned and disappeared down the street. Caroline stood there in shock and watched the vampire walk away. As much as Caroline wanted to deny the primal hunger that was raging inside of her, she could feel the darkness that wanted to follow Katherine. Since Caroline refused to give in to that evil, she turned and walked back into the house. And no matter how much she tried to, she couldn't forget the being inside of her that longed to be unleashed.

* * *

a/n: Please remember to review!


	12. Chapter 12 A Breath of Mortality

a/n: I was speechless from the large amount of reviews my last chapter received. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review. I'm deeply happy with this chapter. I hope you enjoy it too. And please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Twelve A Breath of Mortality

_I can feel the wind blowin',  
It's sending shivers down my spine,  
I can feel the wind blowin',  
It shakes the trees and the power lines,  
What makes a man spend his whole life in disguise?  
I think I know,  
I think I might know._  
-What Makes a Man by City and Colour

Elena sat in the living room and watched the other inhabitants contemplate the events of the past few days. They had spent the past thirty minutes filling Stefan and her family in on everything that had happened. Stefan had spent a few minutes recalling what had happened to them, but with the few details he had, it was hard to tell exactly who had held them captive or why they had bothered to take them in the first place.

To top things off, they had to deal with the Katherine incident that had occurred earlier that day. Caroline still seemed shaken by the event and had said little during the entire conversation. Elena found it strange that the girl who had always had something to say now had problems finding the words to describe the darkness Katherine had brought with her.

"We haven't slept much in the past few days," Alaric said as he stood up. "We haven't eaten much either. We still have a few more days to figure this out. I vote we use the last few hours of daylight to fix food on the grill and then resume this discussion when darkness sets."

"Then Tyler and Caroline won't be able to be part of the conversation," Bonnie spoke up. Her green eyes quickly passed over her friends. "We all have a lot to think about. And I have to read to see if Emily talked about any necklace she ever gave Damon. Let's just continue this conversation tomorrow."

"I'm fine with that idea," Jenna said after her stomach let out an embarrassing rumble. "Do you plan on cooking Alaric?"

A smile crossed his lips. "If you'll help me."

Jenna laughed. "You do _not_ want me anywhere near the food." She stood up and smiled. "I will, however, stand there and look pretty."

"What more could I ask for?" Alaric replied as he turned to Bonnie. "Do you have a grill we can use?"

"Of course," Bonnie motioned toward the kitchen. "Just follow me."

Elena sat there in silence as she watched Bonnie, Tyler, Jenna, and Alaric all pile out of the room. After a few seconds, Caroline stood up and stretched.

"Since I'm no help after the sun goes down," she began, "I think I'm going to help fix food."

"When did you learn how to cook?" Matt gasped.

Caroline shrugged. "Not really cook. I can, however, make a salad. As long as we still have the stuff to make one."

"I'll go help," Matt smiled.

As Elena watched them disappear, a smile crossed her own lips. It was good to see Matt so happy with Caroline. They were a cute couple and they deserved each other.

But then Elena glanced back around the room. Stefan sat beside her on the love seat and Damon leaned against the back wall. She wondered how she had managed to become trapped in a room with both Salvatore brothers.

Although Stefan's hand was intertwined with her own, Elena was focused on Damon. His blue eyes wouldn't leave her brown ones and his gaze broke her heart.

"I'll be back sometime," Damon spoke suddenly as he moved from his position. "Don't wait up for me."

Elena watched Damon leave without saying a word. When she heard the front door close, she finally turned and faced Stefan.

"Do you need to go too?" she asked softly.

"Why would I need to leave you?" he smiled as he wrapped his arm around her. "I'm perfectly content where I am." He leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips. When he pulled away, she was frowning.

"Don't you need to feed?"

"I'll be fine Elena. I can wait until the morning."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

She nodded slowly as she leaned against his chest. It had been so long since they'd just been able to sit around and enjoy the presence of each other. But when she closed her eyes and breathed in, she could only feel Damon.

As much as Elena had once loved this quiet time with Stefan, now, it only bothered her. The silence weighed down on them and threatened to smother her. Instead of simply enjoying her time with Stefan, she fought for something to say.

"Did Katherine torture you when she held you captive?" Elena finally asked.

"No," he shook his head slightly. "She held me prison in the room you found me in, but she was far from controlling. She gave me all the food I wanted and offered me anything I desired." He frowned. "She said she'd give me anything I wanted if I chose to follow her."

"I hate the fact that she thinks she can control our lives," Elena spat.

"We'll find a way to stop her," Stefan said as he offered her a smile. "We haven't backed down so far. That should say something."

Elena nodded slowly. "I'm glad she didn't hurt you."

"Hm." Stefan shifted in his seat so he could look into Elena's brown eyes. "Did Damon hurt you while I was away? You two have been acting strange ever since I was rescued."

"He didn't hurt me," Elena replied. "He actually saved my life on multiple occasions."

"You don't have some hero complex with him now, do you?"

"What?" Elena gasped as she pushed away from Stefan. "Why would you ask that?"

"Sometimes, when a person saves you, you'll develop weak feelings for that person," Stefan replied. "He saved you, and I'm grateful for that, but he doesn't care about anyone Elena. I don't want you to get hurt."

"He isn't the one hurting me," Elena said as she stood up. "I understand that you have a right to wonder what happened when you were away, but I love you, Stefan. Not him."

"I'm sorry," Stefan replied as he stood up. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay." Forcing herself to smile, Elena pointed toward the kitchen. "I'm going to see if Caroline and Matt need any help."

"I'll go with you."

"I'll be fine," Elena made clear. "You've been through a lot. Just relax."

Without waiting to see if he obeyed, she walked into the kitchen. No one was in this area and Elena assumed Caroline and Matt had moved out to the backyard. Elena took a few seconds to compose herself from what had just occurred in the living room. All of the feelings that had consumed her over the past few days still lingered in the background of her thoughts. And she wasn't sure what to make of them. She was certain, however, that if Stefan didn't give her some space, she'd end up doing something she would probably regret.

* * *

Later that night, Bonnie sat in the living room and read from Emily's journal by the light of the candles around her. The majority of the house was asleep, but she couldn't find comfort in the realm of unconsciousness. Too many thoughts plagued her and she'd once again opened this book to attempt to find some of the answers she needed.

The page in front of her caught her attention more than any of the others. Slowly, Bonnie read:

_I feel as if she knows of the plans I intend to set in motion. She watches me constantly, even when it disadvantages her to do so. She seems almost paranoid, and with what I plan on doing, I don't blame her. But her madness has to stop. I can't allow her to continue plaguing the world with the evil she controls. _

_She has already fed the boys her blood. According to the small amount of information she tells me, she is going to turn both of them soon. I feel as if she is torturing both boys to gain her own end. And neither boy knows the full extent of what the change will demand of them. _

_While one of the boys seems content with her and her lifestyle, the other is more hesitant in joining her side. I feel sorry for him. She has bewitched him with her dark spells to such a point that his love for her will allow him to make foolish decisions. He deserves much better than her darkness. _

_I have been working nonstop on devising a spell to help him through this. I found a beautiful crescent-shaped pendent that I plan on using for this task. If I am successful, this necklace will allow him to remember what it was like to be human. I don't want him to become the calloused monster that she is..._

Bonnie pulled away and shook her head. The implications of what she had just read sent a shiver down her spine. If Emily had found a way for a vampire to become human again, even if the change was only temporary, then nowhere would be safe for them to stay. Bonnie secretly hoped that Emily had failed or changed her mind about what she wanted the spell to accomplish. If she hadn't, then they were doomed.

* * *

"Hello there." Damon flashed a smile as he came up to the vampire in front of him. The male stood over six foot tall and close to two hundred pounds. Despite the fact that Damon was much smaller than this giant before him, he wanted to fight so much that he cared little about his opponent. Any fight would be amazing.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

Damon simply grinned. "My name isn't important."

As Damon's fist made contact with the vampire, his adversary frowned. He tried to grab onto Damon, but Damon was too fast for the younger vampire. Damon sent an uppercut to the man's jaw that had him staggering back a few steps.

The adrenaline was pumping through Damon's veins and overcoming the raw pain he had felt before. He had never imagined how hard it was going to be to see his brother and Elena together. It angered Damon greatly to realize that it took events like this for him to remember why he had vowed to never love again. Love was far too painful.

He had been distracted by his thoughts and Giant landed his own attack on Damon's face. Damon grinned as he let his vampire instincts completely take over. With inhuman speed, Damon pounded his fists against Giant's chest. Giant took the beating fairly well and didn't seem too disturbed by Damon's attacks. All of a sudden, Giant hit Damon in the chest and threw him to the ground.

The wind picked up and blew green leaves through the area. Damon saw a branch lying nearby and turned and raced for the piece of wood. Giant chased after him, but he was too slow. Just as Giant descended on Damon, Damon picked up the branch and thrust it into Giant's heart.

Giant groaned before he collapsed onto the ground beside Damon. Damon didn't waste any time getting up off the ground and glancing at his surroundings. Although some of his anger had dissipated, there was still a burning need in him to destroy anything that came into his path. And that feeling intensified as she walked into his line of vision.

"Oh Damon," she breathed as she walked up to him. "Why do you put yourself through this?"

"Katherine," Damon said coldly. "I have nothing to say to you."

"I think you do," she replied. "I have something you want."

Damon didn't give her the satisfaction of acting surprised. Instead, he just shrugged. "And what do I want Katherine?"

"This." She held up the necklace that she had taken the previous night. "Do you know the power this devise holds?"

"I'm sure you're going to enlighten me," he snapped.

"Don't be like that Damon," she said softly. "I never meant to make you hate me this much." She slowly reached up and fastened the necklace around Damon's neck. "I know we've had our differences Damon, but this is what you want. You want your humanity back. And I can give you that."

As the necklace landed on his skin, Damon could feel all the emotions he had locked away over the course of his vampire life. His vision dimmed and he could no longer hear the thousands of sounds that had echoed in the night only a few seconds before. Glancing to Katherine, he saw the ethereal beauty she possessed as the moonlight shimmered on her dark hair. She leaned in and softly brushed her lips against his. And since all Damon's vampire abilities had been taken away, he was forced to stand there and let her touch him.

"You were _always_ supposed to be with me," she breathed as she unhooked the necklace. "And you will be with me again. It won't be much longer before our eternity together begins."

With an almost breathtaking smile, she turned and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Damon stood there for a few moments and stared at the area she had vanished into. A storm was approaching on the horizon and its warning was imminent. Katherine knew what she wanted and this meeting proved that she would go to any length to obtain it. And if they didn't find a way to stop her, Katherine's wrath would consume them all.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	13. Chapter 13 Choices

a/n: It always amazes me when I log on and see all the reviews I've received for my previous chapter. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review. This chapter is a nice mix of strange occurrences and down time. I hope you enjoy this and please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen Choices

_Am I supposed to be happy?  
When all I ever wanted, it comes with a price,  
Am I supposed to be happy?  
When all I ever wanted, it comes with a price,  
You said, you said that you would die for me…  
_-Cat and Mouse by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

The sunlight glistened overhead as Elena once again worked on fighting against Damon. He wasn't being as supportive as he had been the other day. His attacks were harsh and sudden. Every time Elena failed, and it didn't look like he was going to help her fight against him anytime soon.

"Let's go again," Damon spoke up and Elena shook her head.

"I'm sick of this Damon," she snapped as she threw down her vervain dart. "If you're not going to help me, we're just wasting our time."

"They won't be anymore understanding than I'm being," he retorted. "If you want to survive, fight me Elena."

She narrowed her brown eyes as she crossed her arms. "Do you even hear yourself?" she yelled. "It's like you're telling me to run a marathon without helping me train. This is _impossible_ Damon." She shook her head as her mouth became a thin line. "You know what Damon? I'm finished with this. I'll just get Stefan to help me."

"He doesn't even remotely stand a chance against Katherine," Damon screamed back. "He won't be able to teach you anything."

"At least he'll _try_ to teach me."

"Do whatever you want to Elena," Damon huffed. "It won't be my funeral."

"Are you really going to be that cold?" Elena asked as she took a step toward him. "You've saved my life countless times during the past few days. Are you going to let all those times be in vain?"

"You've always known that I don't care about people Elena," Damon replied coldly. "Why did you think you would be any different?"

Although his words hurt, Elena pushed back the pain and took another step toward him. "Is this because of what happened between us?"

A smirk crossed his lips. "You mean the blood sharing?"

"Yes."

"Why would that affect me?" he laughed.

"Don't be idiotic Damon," Elena frowned. "I know you better than that. It might not affect you as much as it's affecting me, but you feel this connection too."

"I do?" He raised a perfect eyebrow.

"Yes," Elena replied more confidently than she really felt. "I think you do."

"And what am I supposed to do with that Elena?"

"Use it to help me," Elena spoke softly. "Project things I need to do in my mind so I can react quicker than I do now. Help me know what to do."

He seemed indifferent as he shrugged. "We can try that."

Nodding, Elena walked back and grabbed the vervain dart she'd cast aside. After letting out a deep breath, she smiled weakly at him. "Let's get started."

* * *

Jeremy stood in the doorway that led into the living room and watched the people inside work. Bonnie and Tyler sat on the love seat and read from some of the journals of the founding families to try to learn more about lycanthropy. Meanwhile, Caroline and Matt poured over piles of books and tried to find some explanation for what was going on with Caroline. Personally, Jeremy didn't see the reason in making any attempt to save themselves. Vicki and Anna had both been killed just by being involved in this mess. And when Jeremy had tried to become a vampire to block out all of his pain, that had failed too. They were all going to die in this thing and it didn't matter what they did to try to prevent it.

Sighing, Jeremy walked past the groups of people and out into the bright sunlight. He wasn't completely sure where he was going, but knew he needed to get away from the overcrowded house. If he didn't, he was going to go crazy.

As he walked past the rest of the houses in the area, he didn't see any other being. Most of the people in Mystic Falls had packed and left. He thought they all should be running as far away from this place as possible. The town was going to be destroyed, and he had no desire to die with it.

Part of this body still harbored a deep hatred toward Damon for stopping him from turning. He had learned only a little while ago that Damon had been the one to make sure that he was taken to the hospital. If Damon would have let him die, Jeremy wouldn't have been in such pain now.

A chill raced down Jeremy's spine as he walked past more empty houses. He couldn't see Bonnie' house anymore and decided he needed to turn back around. He had taken his first step back toward the weak excuse for civilization when he saw her.

"Elena," Jeremy said uncertainly as he looked to the nearest house. She sat on the steps of the front porch and was staring at him with an intense gaze. Slowly, she stood up and walked toward him. Her mouth was set in an expression between a smile and a frown as she shook her head sadly.

"Oh Jeremy," she spoke softly. "I'm not Elena."

"Katherine," Jeremy nodded. "I should have known you'd come talk to me too."

A true smile crossed her lips. "So you know the truth?"

"Parts of it," Jeremy replied. "You've been watching all of us and learning what we want the most. You offered Stefan, Jenna, and Alaric anything they wanted if they followed you. You knew what to offer them, but you didn't know about me."

"And you think I know now?"

"I do," he spoke flatly.

"Then there's no point in delaying," Katherine shrugged. "You are the most intriguing out of all the humans. You don't want love or happiness. You just want to forget it all."

"If you had lived my life, you would want to forget too."

"I'm not judging you," Katherine replied quickly. "Vampirism is the best gift I can give anyone."

"And you would just give me immortality?"

"Of course not," she grinned as crossed her arms. "You would have to pledge your loyalty to me first."

"Go to-"

"There's no reason for that language," Katherine interrupted. Her anger blazed behind her eyes now. "Humans are such fickle creatures. You will change your mind." But then she shrugged. "And if you don't, you'll die."

With those words, she turned and disappeared back toward the house. Then, she turned around and smiled at Jeremy.

"Do you know why the houses around here are so quiet?" she asked.

"Because people are smart enough to leave the evil epicenter you're making this town into."

"No," she laughed. "The houses are quiet because the people inside are dead. And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish my meal."

Jeremy shivered as he watched her go back into the house. Even though the war was still a few nights away, he had never been more certain that they would all die.

* * *

Damon stood in the kitchen and tried to shake off the previous half hour with Elena. They had tested the limits of their bond as they had projected thoughts, feelings, and simple demands. Elena's fighting skills had greatly improved, and she'd even been able to stab him on multiple occasions. If he could have shaken off his current overload of her feelings and emotions, he would have been proud of her.

At that point, he made the decision to leave Bonnie's house and find something else to do far away from Elena. They had yet to be able to completely shut off their link, and it was currently too much for him to bear. Although distance wouldn't completely fix the problem, it would help.

As he marched out of the kitchen, he almost ran straight into Bonnie. He looked at her for one second, saw the look of determination on her face, and tried to walk past her. Unfortunately, she turned and followed him.

"We need to talk Damon."

He offered her the fakest smile he could muster. "I have somewhere to be." He walked away from her, but stopped when she spoke again.

"I know what Emily's necklace does."

Damon sighed as he ruffled his hair. With all the patience he could muster, he turned and faced Bonnie.

"I already know what it does."

"How?" Bonnie crossed her arms as her green eyes searched him for answers.

"Because I'm amazing," Damon grinned.

Bonnie wasn't buying it. "Does your revelation have to do with what you did last night?"

A true smile crossed his lips then. The witch was much smarter than she looked and since she had discovered the truth on her own, he decided he'd confide in her.

"Katherine showed me what the necklace did last night," he replied. "And believe me, its effects were quite convincing."

"So it's true then?" she frowned. "The necklace makes you human again?"

He shook his head quickly. "I was still a vampire. It just made me feel human."

"So you don't think Katherine could come into this house with her necklace on?"

The full meaning of her question finally became clear. "I think we're safe. And she won't attack until the night of the full moon. We still have a little time."

"A little," Bonnie nodded. She took a moment to take in his appearance before she spoke again. "I know we've had our differences in the past Damon," she began. "And I still don't trust you. I think you're a horrible person who acts selfishly without thinking of the consequences those actions will have on others."

"I'm glad we're being honest."

"But," she continued, "I think you're on our side. Don't prove me wrong Damon."

With those words, she turned and disappeared into the kitchen. A smile crossed Damon's lips as he watched her go. Although Damon didn't know if he'd be able to protect Elena in the future, he knew Bonnie would walk through fire to keep her safe.

As his thoughts once again were consumed with Elena, Damon frowned. It was still a little while before night fell, and there were many things he needed to do. Without bothering to tell anyone that he was leaving, he dug his car keys from his pocket and walked toward the door. Hopefully, he would find some form of solace with speed.

* * *

Elena smiled warmly as she sat down on the bed beside Caroline. Caroline offered her a smile in return as she tucked a few loose strands of her blond hair behind her ears.

"To what do I owe this special pleasure?" Caroline laughed and her laugh sounded like a symphony.

"It just feels like we've pushed our personal lives away to focus on everything that is at hand," Elena spoke slowly.

"Which makes sense," Caroline continued. "This is a life or death situation after all."

"Unfortunately," Elena replied as she glanced down at the bed. She played with the ends of the sheet while she composed her thoughts. When she looked back up to Caroline, relief glistened in her brown orbs. "If we forget the little things, it feels like they've won."

"I understand," Caroline said as she offered a warm smile. "And what do you need to talk about?"

A smile crossed Elena's lips at Caroline's understanding. "It's about Damon."

"What about him?"

"I don't know why he's so mad at me."

"Think about it Elena," Caroline spoke. "You and Damon have been getting really close lately. And now that Stefan is back, Damon doesn't get to spend that time with you."

"I love Stefan," Elena said as she looked deep into Caroline's bright eyes. Elena received a light squeeze on her hand.

"And I love Stefan too," Caroline shrugged. "Just because you love someone, doesn't mean that you're in love with them. Don't get me wrong," she continued quickly. "I like Stefan and I think he's a good guy for you. But if he's not the person you want to be with, then you don't need to be with him."

"I don't love Damon, Caroline."

"I'm not saying you do," she replied. "But you like him and he likes you too. Why not give it a shot?"

"That seems insanely selfish. I don't want to hurt Stefan like that."

"You deserve to be happy," Caroline made clear. "And it's up to you to find out who that happiness is supposed to be with. If it's Stefan, that's great. If it's Damon, that's good too. And if it's some guy who lives halfway across the globe, you'll find a way to make it work."

"Stefan and I used to be so happy together."

"And you're not the same people you used to be," Caroline smiled warmly. "My advice is to just take some time and figure out what you want. Once you figure out what will make you happy, go for it. Life is too short to live with regrets."

Elena nodded weakly as she stood up. "Are you happy with Matt?"

"Ecstatic," Caroline replied. "He means everything to me Elena. I have no desire to lose him because of the darkness that's inside of me."

"He knows that darkness isn't you," Elena smiled. "He's patient enough to wait for this storm to disperse."

"I hope so," Caroline said as she stood up. "I only have a few more hours of daylight left and want to enjoy them."

"Everything is put in a new perspective now that we can't go out at night," Elena spoke up. "I never thought I'd miss lying out in the grass and just looking at the stars."

"I never knew how amazing the sunlight was until we were forced to see how much we could do in one day. It feels like the sun is out for an hour before it sets."

"Soon we'll be safe to do whatever we want, whenever we want," Elena said as she stood up.

"I hope so," Caroline smiled.

"Thank you for letting me talk to you," Elena said as she hugged Caroline. "This really helped."

"Do you know what you're going to do?"

"I think so," Elena nodded, but then shook her head. "No. I know what I'm going to do."


	14. Chapter 14 Endings

a/n: Once again, thank you to everyone who took the time to review! I'm insanely happy with this chapter and love the ending. I've decided I've become obsessed with Katherine. I feel like I can't write a chapter anymore without including her in it. I also have the next chapter finished so hopefully I'll be able to post it tomorrow night. I hope you enjoy this chapter! And please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Fourteen Endings

_Put me inside flesh that is dying,_  
_A ghost that wanders without rest,_  
_Buried by desires and weakness,_  
_I understand,_  
_But please, don't take your love away from me._  
-Don't Take Your Love Away by VAST

Damon walked down the vacant street toward the place he knew Sheriff Forbes would be. He strolled into the police station and quickly noticed how few people occupied the area. He only saw police officers on his way toward the sheriff's office. When he opened the door, Sheriff Forbes glanced up at him with a look of pure relief.

"Damon," she nodded as she offered him her hand. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

"You can't get rid of me that easily," he grinned. "I came here to see how bad the damage to the town was."

"Well," she shook her head as she sat back down. For a few seconds she shifted through the papers in front of her before she finally handed a folder to Damon. He took a seat and thumbed through the pages. "Those are the reports that have been filled. About half the town has moved away from this war zone. Of those remaining, about half are unaccounted for. I'm fairly certain it's safe to assume that those people are dead."

Damon nodded slowly. "What do you think is going on?"

"The large amount of drained bodies indicates vampires are involved," she spoke. "But vampires have never been this aggressive before. They seem bent on destroying this town."

"Have you spoken to the other Council members about this?"

"Which ones?" she laughed. "We're it Damon. And it's my job to try to keep peace between the remaining people in this town."

Leaning back in his chair, Damon frowned. "There are more creatures involved than just vampires."

"Like what?" she asked quickly as she edged forward. "What do you know?"

"There are werewolves involved in this too," he replied. "And maybe something else. Have you talked to Caroline recently?"

"No." She shook her head. "I want to keep her as far away from this as possible."

"She's involved in this Liz, whether or not you want her to be."

Sheriff Forbes let out a deep breath. "I take it you know something I don't."

"There is a small group of us who are preparing to fight against the vampires and werewolves. If you know anyone who wants to fight, we need to teach them to fight too."

"And is Caroline part of this group?"

"Yes," Damon nodded. "You know everyone who is connected to this group. The only problem is that there are too few of us. The enemy will take us out without hesitating."

"I'll volunteer my services," Liz replied as she moved from her chair and crossed her room. She used one of her many keys to unlock a small safe. Then, she pulled out two guns and several rounds of bullets.

"What are those?" Damon raised a perfect eyebrow.

"Silver bullets," Liz said as she handed one of the guns to Damon. "I feared something like this would happen. I wanted to be prepared."

"Now is the perfect time to be prepared," he replied. Then, he motioned back toward the work area outside the room. "Do you think your men will help?"

"Yes," she nodded. "They've been very helpful during this time. They're the only two men I have left."

Damon sighed at that. Finding an army was becoming even more difficult.

"Do you have any more secrets up your sleeve?" he finally asked.

"One," she replied. "But it's for my daughter. If we're going to die in this, there's something she needs to know first."

"She's been going through a lot lately."

"I feel like I'm to blame for most of that," Liz spoke slowly. "I've kept things from her that I should have told her a long time ago."

"Now is a perfect time to make things right."

"Then where is she?" Liz asked as she stood up. "The quicker I get this over with, the better it will be."

Damon glanced out the office's window and saw the sun linger on the horizon. Whatever Sheriff Forbes had to tell Caroline could wait. "She's safe at Bonnie's house, but we're not going there tonight. We need to get somewhere safe before the sun goes down."

"I know a good place to go," she replied as she crossed the room and opened the door. She had placed her gun in her holster and carried the extra clips in her hand. "We need to leave now if we're going to make it."

Damon stood up quickly and followed the sheriff out of the room. With Liz's confession that she had kept information from Caroline, a slight tinge of hope lay in Damon's body. Maybe they could finally figure out what was happening to Caroline and come up with some way to harness the power inside of her. Right now, they needed a miracle to win. Maybe Caroline would give them one.

* * *

Slowly, Elena walked down the stairs of Bonnie's house and into the room beyond. The living room was lit only by the light of the candles and it took her a few minutes to see the other person in the room. When he noticed her, she smiled weakly and walked toward him.

"How are you holding up?" Stefan asked as he embraced her.

When Elena pushed away from him, she shook her head. "I don't know Stefan. All of this is crazy. And I'm starting to feel like we're not going to be able to win."

"We will win," he made clear. "You need to have more faith."

"Maybe," she nodded. Then, she sighed. "Over the course of this past year, you've become one of my best friends Stefan. I'm lucky to have you in my life."

"I'm lucky to have you too."

"Don't say that," Elena grimaced as her blue eyes looked to him with resolve. "There are things I need to say."

He didn't look too happy. "Then go ahead."

"We've been through a lot," Elena spoke slowly. "We've had to deal with Damon, and Isobel, and now Katherine. And throughout all of this, we've changed."

"Of course we've changed," Stefan replied. "We've become stronger."

Elena nodded. "We have. But we've also changed in other ways too. You've become an amazing friend, and at one point, I fell in love with you."

"I love you too," Stefan said. "What are you getting at Elena?"

After a few moments of silence, she let out a deep breath. "You're not the person I fell in love with anymore. And I don't think I'm the person you fell in love with either."

"You still love me," Stefan said heatedly as he took a step toward Elena. "I know you still love me."

"I do love you Stefan," she replied. "But I'm not _in_ love with you. And I'm sorry it took me this long to figure it out."

"So that's it?" Stefan snapped as he took another step toward her. "You're just going to break up with me and then run into Damon's arms?"

"This has _nothing_ to do with Damon," Elena made clear. "We're breaking up because we're not in love with each other anymore. That's all this is."

"You're timing couldn't have been more impeccable," he replied sarcastically. "We could die Elena. Why worry about this now?"

"Because we can die," she said as she crossed her arms. "We shouldn't die pretending to be people we're not."

Stefan didn't respond to that. Instead, he walked away from Elena and grabbed the unpowered lamp from a table beside the couch. Then, he launched the lamp across the room. As it shattered into thousands of pieces, Elena winced and took a step away from Stefan.

"You said Katherine fed you. She gave you human blood, didn't she?" Elena asked.

"Of course she gave me human blood," he replied as he turned back to Elena. "She wanted me to be the strongest I could be. And she knew my weakness."

"This isn't you." Elena took another step away from Stefan and toward the love seat. Normally, she would have trusted Stefan to not hurt her, but now that he was hurting, she wasn't sure how he would act.

When she took another step away, he moved with inhuman speed and closed his hands around her neck. She tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight for her to move.

"This is me Elena," Stefan snapped. "Deal with it."

"If you love me like you say you do," Elena spoke slowly, "then let me go."

For a few moments, she saw anger flash behind his eyes. But then his anger subsided and his grip on her lessened.

"I'm so sorry Elena," he breathed. "I never meant to hurt you."

"I know," she nodded. "But this is a good example for why we don't need to be together. We both have things we need to figure out. We need to find ourselves again."

"And what if when we find ourselves, we realize we want to be together?"

"Then we'll be together." Then, Elena shook her head. "But I don't think we will Stefan. Our relationship was never what it was supposed to be. And I think deep down, you know that this was wrong too."

He shook his head. "We are meant to be together Elena. You'll see."

Elena offered him a weak smile, but didn't reply. After a few seconds, Stefan turned and walked away from the dark room. She couldn't come up with any comforting words to say so she just let him leave. And when he did, she felt the loneliness of the room smother her. She had never meant to end things with him tonight, but fate had had other plans. Now, she'd have to deal with the consequences. With only a short amount of time before the full moon, she needed to decide what she did want.

Since there was nothing else to do, she grabbed her diary and wrote by the light of the candles.

* * *

Katherine stood in the moonlight and watched the mayhem around her. About ten vampires stood in the street and drained their victims of their blood. Just before they killed their hosts, they infused the victims with their blood. The vampires snapped the humans' necks without hesitation. After a few moments of silence, the newly created vampires rose from the pavement and gazed around in wonder.

"You belong to me," Katherine said coldly as she walked through the vampires and examined them. "And I'm sure all of you are hungry now." She snapped her fingers and some more vampires appeared with humans. The humans struggled against their captors, but it was no use. There was no way for them to escape their deaths.

"These are my first present to you," Katherine spoke. "I hope you enjoy them."

The majority of the newly turned vampires didn't hesitate to attack the humans. They clawed with fingernails, and used their new fangs to draw blood. When the scent of the blood drifted up to their nostrils, they descended on their prey and fed.

"Katherine," a vampire known as Drew bowed as he approached her. "There is something we need to discuss."

"Can't it wait?" she smiled wickedly. "I love watching newborns feed."

"This is important," he replied. "We may need to change our battle strategy."

That was enough to get her attention. And if the problem was Drew's fault, he would pay for it. "What happened?"

"Your scene is obviously causing much attention to be brought to Mystic Falls," Drew spoke carefully as he took the time to pick his words. "There is talk that he's noticed and that he's coming here to interfere."

"Why would he do that?" Katherine snapped. "He promised me this town."

"Maybe he's changed his mind."

"He doesn't have the power to go against me," Katherine replied coldly. "He knows what will happen if he messes up my plans."

"He is much older than you Katherine, and much stronger. It might be wise to back down. We can take this town another time."

"No," she retorted. "This is our time to shine. He doesn't know about the werewolves. He won't be able to stop them."

"And you're sure they're on our side?" Drew questioned.

"If not, we'll kill them too," she shrugged. "I will not rest until the world bows to me."

"Then we need to continue building your army," Drew replied loyally. "We don't have much longer."

She nodded as she watched him walk away. Over the course of the year she'd known him, he had proven his allegiance on countless times. He served as the general for her ever-growing army and understood battle tactics amazingly well. He never lied to her and made sure to list all of the possible issues with each course of action they took. And it was that eye for detail that gave Katherine the confidence that they would win. They would give their enemy a chance to surrender before massacring anyone who stood against them. And when dead bodies filled the streets, the town would finally burn. Then, Katherine would have her revenge on the town that had tried to kill her all those years ago.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	15. Chapter 15 Standing on the Edge

a/n: Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to review my story. I am so blessed to have such loyal readers. I started back to school on Tuesday and have been swamped with homework ever since. I don't know why I thought I would ever be able to post this chapter Tuesday night. I still deeply love this chapter and you finally get to see what's going on with Caroline. I hope you enjoy it and please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Fifteen Standing on the Edge

_This is it, I'm shaking._  
_My body's aching,_  
_I lose my hold,_  
_I will let go._  
-Lost It by Atreyu

Bonnie stood on her back porch and looked out at the people in front of her. Currently, both Stefan and Damon worked on help Tyler and Matt train. Behind her, a door opened and Bonnie turned around just in time to see Elena step out.

"I didn't know Damon was here," Elena spoke as she pointed to where he and Tyler were fighting.

"He hasn't been here long," Bonnie replied as she smiled at Elena. "Is something wrong?"

Sighing, Elena ran a hand through her long brown hair. "I'm not sure," she finally said. "I'm not completely sure Stefan should be out here now."

"Why?"

"It's a long story," Elena frowned. But then she arched an eyebrow. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You've been slightly distant over the past few days," Elena shrugged. "You seem to like Tyler, but something is stopping you from acting on those feelings."

"I feel responsible for his father's death," Bonnie replied.

"That wasn't your fault," Elena said quickly. "You were trying to protect this town from vampires."

"And I ended up killing his father."

"His father died because he was a werewolf," Elena replied. "You couldn't have known that."

"I guess," Bonnie said as she leaned against one of the wooden beams of the porch. "I still feel like I need to tell him."

"Then it's your choice," Elena smiled weakly.

Bonnie smiled back. "Are you going to tell me about Stefan now?"

Crossing her arms, Elena let out a deep breath. "I broke up with him last night."

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"I wasn't in love with him anymore," Elena said softly. "And since there's a chance we won't live through this, I don't want to be with someone I'm not completely happy with."

"It says a lot about how much he cares for you that he's still here."

"I know," Elena nodded. "But the problems with him get worse."

"Really?" Bonnie arched an eyebrow.

"Katherine fed him human blood."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Elena exhaled deeply. "I need to talk to Damon about this. If you want to talk to Tyler now, we can break up their practicing together."

"That sounds like a plan," Bonnie smiled.

* * *

Letting out a deep breath, Caroline crossed Bonnie's front porch and sat down on the swing. Her mother followed suit and sat down beside her. The silence consumed them and Caroline looked out into the yard. Clouds lined the sky and cast spots of shadows onto the grass. Since there wasn't really anything to look at, she turned back to her mother and offered her a weak smile.

"You said you had something you wanted to talk to me about."

"I did," Liz nodded. "I just don't know how to begin."

"Is it that bad?" Caroline laughed nervously.

Liz only shrugged. "It could be."

Biting her lip, Caroline ran a hand through her silky blond hair. "I'm the type of girl who likes bad things to come quickly."

"Then I'll get this over with," Liz said as she turned and faced her daughter. "I once told you a little bit about your father."

"I remember that," Caroline nodded. "You said he wasn't worth my time."

"He still isn't," Liz replied quickly. "But I lied about his identity."

Caroline let out another deep breath. "Then who is my father?"

"Richard Lockwood."

Caroline stood up and took a few steps away from her mother before she finally decided to turn back and face her. "How did that happen?"

"It wasn't by choice, Caroline," Liz replied as stood up too. "And I tried to talk to him about it when I found out I was pregnant. He told me I was lying so I left and took care of you by myself."

Caroline crossed her arms to stop herself from shaking. "You have no idea how much his stupidity affects my life."

"What's going on Caroline?" Liz asked as she moved to comfort her daughter.

"Don't," Caroline replied as she took a step away. "I have a lot I need to process right now. And I need to ask people a lot of questions."

"Just take you time," Liz nodded. "I know I shouldn't have lied to you about your paternity. I never thought it would matter."

"It deeply matters," Caroline replied as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "My entire life could depend on it."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it," Caroline smiled weakly. "We'll talk later."

And with those words, Caroline disappeared back into the safety of the house. The events of the past few days made much more sense now, although she didn't like what she'd found out. She was related to Tyler and her change had started the instant his had. And, like it or not, they were fighting for the same position to become a werewolf.

* * *

"I'm so sorry Tyler," Bonnie breathed as she took his hand in her own. She had just finished explaining to Tyler how she had caused his father's death. She sat next to him on her couch and gazed deep into his dark eyes. "I should have told you about this when I explained how your father had been killed."

"It's not a problem," Tyler replied honestly. "My father was a jerk who never cared about me. The world is a better place without him here."

"If he was still alive, you wouldn't be going through this change," Bonnie spoke up.

Tyler shrugged. "I also wouldn't have you." He offered her a smile before he leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips. Bonnie lost herself in the contact for a few seconds before she pulled away. Someone entered the room then and she turned to see Caroline.

"I need to talk to you," Caroline said weakly as she crossed the room.

"Is everything okay?" Bonnie asked as she stood up.

"I don't think so." Caroline shook her head. "I know what's going on with me now."

"We need to get everyone together and talk about this then." Bonnie said before she turned to Tyler. "Do you care to go get Stefan and Matt from the backyard? If you see Jeremy during that time, grab him too."

Tyler didn't say a word as he stood up and left the room. Then, Bonnie turned back to Caroline.

"I'm going to go find everyone else. Is this a conversation you want your mother to be part of?"

"Not yet." Caroline shook her head. "I'm not ready for her to be part of this."

"Fair enough," Bonnie nodded. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

As Bonnie walked away, a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Although she didn't know what was going on with Caroline, she would find out shortly. And then maybe they would be able to come up with a plan to keep everyone safe.

* * *

Jeremy walked out into the harsh sunlight and took in the sight before him. Matt and Stefan worked nearby to practice Matt's fighting skills. It was easy to tell from the short amount of time Jeremy had watched them that Matt was insanely tired. His movements were slow and staggered and he never hit Stefan. Finally Matt exhaled deeply and motioned toward the house.

"I'm going to go get something to drink," Matt spoke up.

Stefan nodded solemnly in response. Jeremy raised an eyebrow as Matt walked toward him and received a confused smile from Matt.

"What?"

"Let me have that," Jeremy said as he pointed toward the vervain dart. "I want to see how I'd do."

"Suit yourself," Matt shrugged before he handed him the weapon. "I need a break anyway."

A smile crossed Jeremy's lips as he walked toward Stefan. The weapon felt natural in his hand and he wanted a chance to use it. For the past few days, a deep weight had settled on his being. Now, he wanted a chance to find some release.

Stefan's stance suggested that he had no confidence in Jeremy's fighting abilities. Personally, Jeremy didn't really believe in himself either, but he was past the point of caring. He wanted to fight, even if he didn't win.

For a few minutes, Jeremy stood still and waited for Stefan to attack. When Stefan lunged forward, Jeremy tried to stab him. Before the weapon could hit Stefan's skin, Stefan had his hands around Jeremy's throat. Then, in one fluid motion, Stefan tossed Jeremy onto the ground.

"What was that for?" Jeremy snapped as he stood back up.

"Maybe I just don't want to be doing this," Stefan replied nonchalantly.

Jeremy glared at him as his anger burned behind his eyes. "And?"

"Elena-"

"I don't care what my sister did to you," Jeremy retorted. "The fact is that she's here. You're an idiot if you think I want to be here after everything I've gone through. I've lost two people who I've deeply cared about because of this mess. Elena's still here. Whatever she did to you can't be that bad."

"Maybe it is," Stefan shrugged.

"Then decide whose side you're on," Jeremy replied. He felt a fierce protectiveness rising up within his body that he had thought died out. "If you want to abandon ship, at least have the decency to tell us you're leaving."

Stefan opened his mouth, but shut it as the door to the house opened. Jeremy turned and saw Tyler walk outside.

"Caroline has something she wants to tell everyone."

Truthfully, Jeremy could have cared less what Caroline had to say, but he was also tired of dealing with Stefan. He gave one last glance to Stefan before he turned and walked toward a conversation he thought would be pointless.

* * *

Damon crossed his arms as he leaned against the counter. A frown was on his face and he shook his head to clear it.

"Well?" Elena finally asked. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"This isn't the time for him to be stupid," Damon replied. "He could end up getting us all killed."

"I wonder if that's what Katherine wanted," Elena spoke truthfully. "She's been two steps ahead this entire time. She knew what would happen to Stefan if he drank human blood again."

"She doesn't want to kill us," Damon said as he moved away from the counter. "She's made it clear over the past few days that she wants all of us to join her side."

"Which I still don't understand," Elena sighed. "Why not just kill us all?"

"This is more fun to her," Damon smirked. "She wants to play with us and show us that she's the one in control."

"So what do you think we need to do with Stefan?"

"I'll watch him," Damon shrugged. "There aren't too many humans involved in this for him to attack. Hopefully, he won't be an idiot."

"I don't think he's thinking straight right now."

"And why is that?" Damon smiled.

"Because I-"

As the door to the room opened, Elena turned and glanced at Bonnie. A frown was on Bonnie's face, but it quickly turned into a weak smile.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," she spoke quickly. "But Caroline has some breaking news to tell all of us. We might be able to develop a war plan now."

Elena nodded as she glanced back at Damon. There were still many things she needed to tell him, but those things would have to wait until later.

After letting out a deep breath, Elena walked from the kitchen and hoped they would get the answers they needed.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	16. Chapter 16 Learning How to Die

a/n: Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review my last chapter. I currently have four more chapters planned after this one, but I may add more in. I'm not sure yet. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Sixteen Learning How to Die

_While we thought that we were learning how to live, _  
_We have been learning how to die._  
_I should have known, we will be legends._  
-Songs Sound Much Sadder by Norma Jean

Elena sat on the love seat with Bonnie and glanced at the other people in the room. The area felt crowded with everyone in it, but this had been the best place for them to try to have this meeting. Since Katherine had proven that she could move about in the daylight, they were forced to stay indoors to discuss any plans they had for fighting against her.

A few minutes ago, Caroline had finished telling everyone about the identity of her father. Now, they sat in silence and contemplated a course of action to take.

"Can both of them change?" Alaric finally asked as he glanced over to Damon. Damon stood against the back wall and shrugged.

"I don't think so," Bonnie said as she pushed her away into the conversation. "Richard Lockwood passed away and they both began changing at the same time. It seems like there is only one position for them to fill."

"Their changes have been so different," Alaric continued as he crossed his arms. "Is there any reason for that?"

"It may just be gender differences," Bonnie replied. "Or the firstborn may experience more pronounced symptoms since the position would initially be his."

"Will we be able to fight in the war?" Caroline asked.

This time, it was Damon who spoke. "As long as you kill vampires, you'll be fine. We're already dead. You will, however, have to watch out and not hurt any werewolves or humans Katherine throws into this."

"Humans?" Elena asked as her brown eyes searched Damon.

He just shrugged. "It's just a hunch I have."

"Will Caroline and Tyler be able to focus on the enemy or will they try to kill us too?" Matt questioned.

"I don't have an answer to that," Damon replied. "Locking them up will only get them killed. I guess we'll just have to take our chances that they remember whose side they're on."

With one quick motion, Elena looked to Jeremy and then back to Damon. After letting out a deep breath, she offered him a weak smile.

"What will happen if me or Jeremy die during the war? Do we still have enough vampire blood in our system to turn?"

For a few moments, silence reigned. "I don't know," Damon finally answered. "It will be close either way."

Nodding, she turned to Stefan then and took in his demeanor. He had remained quiet during this entire conversation and still didn't look like he wanted to be here. Still, he sat there and listened to what everyone was saying, and when she made eye contact with him, his sad eyes pierced into her soul. She offered him a weak smile, although she knew it would do little to provide him comfort. By that time, Tyler was talking and Elena turned her attention to him.

"What will our game plan be for tomorrow night?" he asked.

"We could stay inside and fight people as they come to us," Alaric spoke up. "Werewolves and humans will be the only creatures who can get to us. We could have people stationed at each of the entrances and just take them out as they come in."

"They could have weapons too though," Damon replied. "They could take you out just as easily as you could take them out."

"You mean you actually care about what happens to us?" Alaric grinned.

"Don't get your hopes up," Damon smirked in response.

"Then you think we should just go out and try to take them all on at once?"

"Of course not," Damon smiled. "That would be a death trap."

"You're impossible sometimes."

"I try."

"So the people who stand guard at the entrances should be people who can afford to get hurt," Stefan spoke up. "I'll stand guard at one of the doors."

Elena looked to him uncertainly. "Even if we do protect the doors, there are still a good amount of windows on both levels. We don't have enough people to cover all of those entrances."

"We could barricade some of the windows," Stefan shrugged. "That would at least keep the humans out."

Elena hated that idea. "I do _not _want to be trapped in here."

"We really have no chance either way," Damon spoke up. "If we leave the windows unprotected, her entire army can waltz right in here. If we barricade the windows and the vampires somehow manage to get in here, we'll be trapped."

"So we just pick our poison?" Caroline asked.

"It appears that way."

"Have you found any spells that could help us?" Caroline said as she looked to Bonnie hopefully.

"I've found a few that may work," Bonnie shrugged. "I won't know until I put them into practice though."

"Then let's hope they work," Alaric replied. "Right now, that's all we have."

* * *

Bonnie sat outside underneath one of the trees in her backyard and read from the book in front of her. Although she had checked the book multiple times, she still read the pages in search of something she might have missed. Beside her sat Tyler. Although he wasn't reading anything right now, she still enjoyed his presence. It was nice to have him there, although she wasn't sure if they'd still be alive to do this after the war.

Taking a break, Bonnie looked up from the text and saw Elena walk toward them. Tyler was watching Elena too, although a slight tinge of anger boiled on his surface. He stood up and positioned himself defensively between Bonnie and Elena. Bonnie stood up too then and offered Tyler a confused look.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's our turn to talk to the demon," he snarled.

The girl who looked so much like Elena frowned then and crossed her arms. "That's no way to treat me," she spoke.

"Katherine," Bonnie nodded as the realization hit her. "I was actually surprised I wasn't one of the first people you came to."

"And I'm still not coming to you," Katherine smirked. "I am, however, coming to talk to him." She pointed one freshly manicured finger at Tyler.

"Why should I care about anything you want to say to me?" Tyler snapped.

"Because I'm the reason you're alive," Katherine smiled. She studied Tyler for a few seconds with her deep brown eyes. "Did you really think I didn't know you were in the hospital room that night?"

"What?"

Katherine confidently closed the space between her and Tyler and brushed off a few strands of grass that were on his shirt. "Some of the people who were with me wanted to kill you and your friends. I talked them out of it. I knew the power that lay inside of you." Then, Katherine tilted her head to the side. "Hm. In fact, you owe me your life."

Narrowing his eyes, Tyler shook his head. "I owe you nothing."

"We'll see about that," Katherine grinned. "You would make such a nice addition to my army."

"You've already talked to Caroline," Tyler snapped. "I thought you would have been smart enough to know we both can't change."

"Oh, I do know," Katherine made clear. "Caroline would make an amazing werewolf." She took a step closer to Tyler and Bonnie hated how Katherine confidently invaded his personal space. "I want you for _so_ much more."

With a smile and a wink, Katherine turned around and walked back toward the street. A shudder raced down Bonnie's spine as she watched her go. Despite all of their best efforts, they would never be ready for this war. Right now, Bonnie just hoped that a miracle happened that allowed them to survive.

* * *

Later that night, Elena stood in the living room and peered out the window and into the darkness of the night. Although the moon was almost full, the dense clouds hid the majority of the light. It was the night before the war would occur and the night felt eerily still. This was the calm before the storm that could possibly claim all of their lives.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. She turned around and smile weakly at Damon.

"I'm sorry to bother you," he smiled. "I just needed somewhere to go."

"It's okay," Elena said as she let the drapes fall from her hand. When she did, the only light the room was given was from the candles that were spread across the room. "Are you nervous at all?"

"Of course not," Damon grinned. "We could die tomorrow night. Why would I be nervous?"

Nodding, Elena walked toward him to where there was only a foot of space that separated their bodies. "I don't want to die without knowing what it's like to be with you."

Slowly, she placed her hands on his shoulders, leaned forward, and gently kissed him on the lips. He didn't move into the kiss, but he didn't back away either. Whenever she opened her eyes, she looked to him with question.

"You're still with Stefan," Damon made clear.

"No," she shook her head. "I broke up with him."

"Why?" His face showed no emotion.

"I wasn't in love with him," she shrugged. "And I didn't want to die knowing that I wasn't being myself."

Damon nodded slowly as he glanced at Elena. He didn't say anything and she finally offered him a weak smile.

"Okay then," she nodded. "I guess I'm going to go somewhere else and try not to make a fool of myself again."

As she turned away to leave, she felt Damon's hand grab onto her wrist. He pulled her back toward him in one fluid movement. Then, his mouth came crashing down on hers. At first, she wasn't sure she was going to be able to handle it. There was so much longing and passion in the kiss that it was hard for her to continue standing. Yet the kiss was simple perfection and she found herself becoming addicted to it. When he kissed her again, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her body even closer to his.

Then, he moved his hands to her hair and tangled them in her locks. A gasp escaped her lips when he kissed her with more fierceness than their first few kisses had contained. She had never needed anyone as much as she needed him now.

But then he pulled away and her perfection shattered. She looked to him in confusion and he only motioned for her to be quiet. He took another step away and glanced toward the stairway. Elena followed suit and then smiled weakly at Jenna.

"Oh," Jenna said as shock lined her face. Apparently she had deciphered what had been going on only minutes before. "I was just going to go to the kitchen."

With those words, Jenna disappeared from the living room and into the kitchen. When Elena turned back to Damon, his expression revealed no emotion.

"Go to bed Elena," he spoke solemnly. "We have a long day tomorrow."

Although Elena didn't want to go to sleep, she knew she needed the rest. Part of her wanted to kiss Damon again, but she knew that if she did, she wouldn't be able to think about anything else. And right now, she needed to be able to think clearly.

"Goodnight Damon," she said as she smiled at him.

When she was moving past him, he caught her head in his hands and turned her to face him again. He gently kissed her on the lips before offering her a smile.

"Goodnight Elena."

After letting out a deep breath, Elena nodded and walked up the stairs. With everything that had just happened, there was no way she was going to be able to sleep. Only the previous night she had broken up with Stefan. Now, all she could think about was his brother. Currently, she just hoped that they made it through the war so she would be able to figure out if she could repair her friendship with Stefan and have a future with Damon.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	17. Chapter 17 The Final Moments

a/n: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review my last chapter. This is the last chapter before the war actually begins. I hope you enjoy it! And please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Seventeen The Final Moments

_There's no time.  
If your decisions include regret, then it's already too late._  
_There's no time for even the slightest bit of remorse._  
-Escape by The Devil Wears Prada

Caroline sat on the front porch swing and rocked gently back and forth. The day had been hectic with everyone working to prepare for the war that would take place that night. Despite all the work she still needed to do, Caroline needed some time to process everything that was taking place inside her body so she had disappeared into the peaceful outdoors.

When the front door opened, she looked up and smiled weakly at Tyler. She motioned for him to sit down beside her and he quietly obeyed.

"Are you nervous?" Caroline asked as her blue eyes looked to him for answers.

"Very much," Tyler replied truthfully. "A week ago, I wouldn't have cared what happened tonight. It feels now though that everything has changed."

Caroline nodded in understanding. "Bonnie really likes you."

"I like her too," he nodded. "I have a lot to fight for now."

"Bonnie is special," Caroline repeated as she pushed against the porch and caused the swing to move slightly.

"I'm fighting for you too," Tyler spoke up.

"Why?" Caroline laughed.

"You're my sister," he shrugged. "I've always wanted to have someone to share things with. My mother was always too busy to bother with me and my father only cared about me when he wanted something from me. Or when I tarnished the family image. Now, I have you."

"Was Richard really that bad?" she asked. It felt weird to think of the previous mayor as her biological father.

"He was abusive, both emotionally and physically. He seemed to think that whatever he wanted was his." But then Tyler sighed and raked a hand through his dark hair. "I guess he isn't to be blamed though. This curse makes me think terrible things too. I can't imagine how hard it'd be to control my emotions if I really did change."

"It's going to be hard to stay focused tonight," Caroline nodded.

"We can do it," Tyler replied. "And think about it this way: If I end up killing someone, at least you won't have to worry about changing."

"I'm fairly certain all we'll be doing tonight is competing against each other to see who can kill first," Caroline said morbidly.

"We'll make it through this."

"I sure hope so," Caroline smiled weakly. "I'd like to have a chance to get to know my brother."

Tyler nodded as he stood up. "We'll be talking tomorrow about how we knew we'd win the war."

Caroline only nodded back in response. As Tyler walked away, she thought about what would take place that night. Right now, she just hoped he was right.

* * *

Damon stood in the backyard and talked with Liz about the events that would take place later that night. Although he had managed to hide his identity from her for quite some time, she had to know the truth about he and Stefan if they were going to stand a chance against Katherine.

"Do you think vampires can be good?" Damon asked as his blue eyes took in Liz's reaction. She tensed up slightly and her heartbeat sped up.

"I think some vampires are good," she eventually replied.

"Then there's something you need to know."

Liz let out a deep breath as she ruffled her short blond hair. "I know Damon."

He raised a perfect eyebrow. "You know what?"

"I saw the pictures of you and your brother the last time you were in Mystic Falls. You haven't changed at all Damon."

"How long have you known the truth?"

"A while," was all she said before she turned toward the house. The back door opened then and her two deputies walked out.

"We have the rest of the weapons here," a man Damon knew as Mike said.

"Thank you," Liz nodded. "We need to go around and figure out who is trained to use them."

"We can do that now," the other man, Richard, said.

"I'll go with you," Liz replied as she took a step away from Damon. She turned around to face him only when she was at the door. "We can talk more later."

With those words, Damon watched Liz disappear back into the house. He had expected his conversation with Liz being much more different than it had been. In the back of his mind, he had a nagging feeling concerning that woman. For the first time since he had come back to Mystic Falls, he wasn't sure if he could trust Liz.

* * *

Standing in the middle of the living room, Alaric watched as Jenna tried to board up one of the windows. Earlier that day, they had decided to board up the windows and then wield metal bars over the wood. That way the humans wouldn't be able to get in by setting the wood on fire or breaking through it with some weapon or tool. Since Jenna had little experience with using any sort of tools, she had opted for trying to hammer the boards into the wall. When she finished boarding up the window, she turned to Alaric with a big smile on her face.

"Look," she said excitedly. She used her hands to showcase her work. "I think I should be a carpenter."

"I wouldn't go that far," Alaric laughed as he crossed the room toward her. She looked absolutely beautiful with her hair caught up in a messy bun and dust smeared across her clothes. "I love you Jenna," he said as he took the ring that made him indestructible from off his finger. With a large smile on his face, he lowered to where he was on one knee and looked up to her. "We've been through a lot lately," he began. "And we're getting ready to go through a lot more. You are so absolutely perfect for me Jenna. Marry me."

Jenna stood with her hands clasped in surprise over her mouth. She giggled and nodded her head quickly before she embraced Alaric.

"Of course I'll marry you," she said before she kissed him passionately.

Alaric couldn't stop smiling. Even with the approaching doom the war brought, he felt a tinge of hope that they would all live through this.

"I didn't have time to get you a ring," Alaric continued as he placed the oversize ring on her finger.

Jenna laughed. "I understand." She reached up and pulled out a long silver chain from underneath her shirt. She unfastened the chain and placed the ring on the necklace. Then, she refastened it and let the chain fall on top of her shirt. "I will cherish this forever Alaric."

He kissed her lightly on the lips and savored every second of it. If he lived through this, he would be allowed to marry her and start his life with someone new. And if he didn't live, at least she would be safe.

* * *

A little after noon, Bonnie stepped outside to take a walk in the weak sunshine. Although there were still many things that needed to be accomplished before the night, she wanted a few moments alone to compose herself for the long night ahead.

Currently, she stood on the sidewalk and looked out at the stillness of the neighborhood. A place that had once been filled with so much life now looked completely barren. But then the door to the house across the street opened and Katherine came waltzing out.

"I thought you didn't want to speak to me," Bonnie said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I just wanted to save the best for last," Katherine replied. She wore a white and yellow sundress that hid some of the evil that lay within her body. Her hair fell down in curls and she twirled one of those curls with her fingers. "All of the others needed to be told what I could give them and have enough time to process that information and make their choice. You're different."

"Why am I different Katherine?" Bonnie snapped.

"You already know what I can give you," Katherine grinned. "You've already been thinking about what choice you want to make."

Bonnie shook her head. "There is nothing you can tempt me with."

"Oh really?" Katherine mused. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"Then stop playing games and tell me what I want."

"There is no need to be so angry all of the time," Katherine frowned. "I could take away all the vampires from the area and leave you by yourself to live your own life."

"And what would you want in return?" Bonnie asked.

Katherine shrugged. "All you would have to do is deliver Damon and Stefan to me. If I have them, I'll leave."

"You actually think I'm strong enough to lure two vampires to you?"

"Of course," Katherine smiled. "The others may doubt your abilities, but I know perfectly well what you're capable of."

"And I'm just supposed to trust your word that you'll keep your end of the bargain?" Bonnie's green eyes looked to Katherine uncertainly.

"What other choice do you have?" Katherine replied truthfully. "If you give Stefan and Damon to me, this war ends. If you don't, you will die."

"We will destroy you," Bonnie countered.

"We'll see," Katherine laughed. She shrugged before she turned away from Bonnie. Bonnie didn't hesitate to pull out the vervain dart she had hidden in her bag. She used Katherine's time of weakness to attempt an attack of her own. Unfortunately, Katherine heard Bonnie's movements and twirled back around to face the witch. Katherine grabbed the vervain dart from Bonnie's hands before wrapping her hand around Bonnie's neck.

"Next time you try that, you _will _be dead," Katherine made clear. A gasp escaped Bonnie's lips, but Katherine just grinned. After a few more seconds, Katherine allowed Bonnie's body to fall to the ground.

"I should have known you'd be exactly like Emily," Katherine spat. But then she shrugged and glanced at the vervain dart. "I think this will be very useful to me."

Before Bonnie could even stand up, Katherine had disappeared. Bonnie rubbed her neck where Katherine's fingers had left bruises. She should have known better than to try to attack Katherine, but she had been so certain that she was going to be able to take her out. Now, Katherine held one of their few weapons and there was no telling what she would do with it.

* * *

Elena stood in the living room and glanced at everyone else in the space. Sunset was only an hour away and the room was filled with a buzzing tension. In a few more hours, they would either be victorious or dead.

Damon currently stood close to her, although not close enough for the people in the room to know of the events that had taken place only the previous night. Through the bond that they shared, she could feel his own nervousness inch its way into her core. All the planning they had done would be useless if even the slightest parameter changed.

As Bonnie walked over to Elena, Elena let a weak smile cross her face. She hugged Bonnie fiercely for a few seconds before she pulled away.

"All of this is going to work out," Bonnie swore as her green eyes looked deep into Elena's brown ones. "We'll make it through this."

"I know we will," Elena spoke with more confidence than she truly felt. "Do you think Emily's spells will help against Katherine?"

"Part of me feels like every spell in that book was forged to fight against Katherine," Bonnie replied truthfully. "Although Emily was close to Katherine, she was always planning to fight against her. She just never got the chance."

Elena nodded slowly. "We're getting the chance to stop her now."

"And it's a chance I won't pass up," Bonnie said passionately. Then, her gaze turned to Tyler. He currently held a weapon in his hand, although Elena knew he'd never get the chance to use it.

"Our friendship has always been strong," Elena said softly. "And I'm not the person you need to be talking to right now. There's a chance we'll die tonight. Don't live with regrets."

"I won't," Bonnie smiled weakly. "I'll talk to you again before sundown."

"I'll see you then," Elena nodded. As she watched Bonnie walk away, a true smile crossed Elena's lips. Even in the middle of this death trap, life still thrived. Katherine may have been able to infuse them with fear, but she couldn't take away their humanity. And Elena had never felt more confident that they would win.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	18. Chapter 18 Underneath the Full Moon

a/n: Once again, thank you to everyone who took the time to review my last chapter. I am so grateful to have so many loyal readers. I'm very pleased with how this chapter turned out. I hope you enjoy it and please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Eighteen Underneath the Full Moon

_It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark,_  
_Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart,_  
_You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it,_  
_You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes,_  
_You're paralyzed._  
-Thriller by Michael Jackson

Ten minutes. That's all the time that stood between the entire house and nightfall. The tension felt unbearable as they each stood in their designated locations. Currently, Elena stood in the upstairs hallway and suppressed a shudder. Damon stood only a few feet from her and offered her a weak smile.

"Please watch Stefan," Elena spoke as she looked up into his blue eyes. "I don't want anyone to be hurt because of him."

Damon nodded slowly. "Watch out for Liz."

"Do you think she'll go against us?" Elena asked in surprise.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I just don't know."

Elena reached up and lightly kissed Damon on the lips. "Please be careful."

"I will," he responded before he kissed her again, more passionately this time. "Just worry about yourself."

Nodding, Elena kissed him again. She felt like her entire core was about to explode from the excess of emotions within her. Not only did she have to deal with her nerves, longing, and sadness, she had to deal with Damon's too.

"I have to go," Damon said as he motioned toward the stairs. He grabbed Elena's face in hands and kissed her with every ounce of passion housed within his body.

"I know," Elena said as she broke the contact. After a few seconds, she pulled him back to her. She would die a hundred times tonight if it meant she was able to kiss him again.

When they finally broke apart, they offered each other a weak smile. Then, Elena was standing alone in the hallway.

* * *

Jeremy held the sniper rifle in his hands and looked through the scope. As far as he could see, the area was still clear. At any moment an army of vampires, werewolves, and humans would walk toward this house and try to destroy the lives they had. Personally, Jeremy was sick of people messing up his life. It was time for him to take control.

Beside Jeremy sat Tyler. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, but a smile crossed his lips and then he turned to Jeremy.

"Have you ever played Halo?" Tyler asked.

"Um. Yes," Jeremy said as he arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I feel like we're playing firefight. We've picked out our base and we're just waiting for the horde to come."

"Except we're not fighting against aliens."

"Unfortunately not," Tyler grinned. Then, he pointed to the gun. "Do you actually think you can use that thing?"

"I'll hit any werewolf who comes near this house," Jeremy replied before a smile crept onto his lips. "Except for you."

"Thanks." Tyler shook his head. "How exactly did we get in this mess?"

"I don't remember," Jeremy said solemnly. "It feels like it has been years since we were fighting over Vicki."

Tyler kicked at air as he gazed at the ground. "I was such a jerk to her."

"I was too," Jeremy replied.

"Things are going to be diff-"

"Shh," Jeremy interrupted as he moved from his position and gazed out of the scope of his weapon. "They're coming."

The sight before Jeremy was breathtakingly horrific. In the darkness of the night, hundreds of humans, werewolves, and vampires marched toward Bonnie's house. Katherine stood at the beginning of the army and a mischievous smile was on her lips. Despite Jeremy's attempts to stop it, a shiver raced down his spine.

"We're going to die," Tyler said with unshakable certainty.

"Yes," Jeremy said softly. "We are."

* * *

Elena stood in the living room and listened to the sounds of the creatures outside. The werewolves echoed their deep howls as everyone moved toward the house. Elena could barely see out of the open front door, but she did catch movement in the small space. Then, Katherine's voice was mocking them.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" she called as she appeared in the doorframe. A shot rang out in the night and Katherine staggered backward. Then, her voice was filled with laughter. "Did you really think that would hurt me?" When silence followed, Katherine only shrugged. "I just want to talk."

"We don't want to talk to you," Damon made clear from his position in front of the door. He had obviously been the one who had shot Katherine.

"You'll come out one way or another," Katherine said dismissively as a human stepped up beside her. Elena instantly recognized the woman as Dr. Reed. At first Elena thought Katherine was going to make Dr. Reed invite her in. Nervously, Elena glanced to Damon and saw him tense up. But when she looked back to the doctor, Dr. Reed was still standing a few feet from the doorway. It was then that Elena realized she was holding a can of gasoline in her hands.

With one swift motion, the doctor tossed the gasoline on the side of the house. Then, a shot rang out through the night and she was lying on the floor of the porch.

"That was unnecessary," Katherine huffed. She looked back to her army and motioned for the humans to move forward. Damon and Liz started taking out the people who walked toward them, but there were so many people that they couldn't stop them all.

The people continued to pour gasoline on all sides of the house. Elena felt nervousness spread throughout her body. If they set the house on fire, they would be trapped.

Quickly, Damon grabbed a vervain dart from one of Liz's men and moved to stab Katherine. Before he could touch her, she had him pinned to the porch floor.

"I'm getting tired of you messing things up Damon," she made clear as she took the vervain dart in her hands. With no hint of mercy, she stabbed Damon with it.

Elena cried out in agony as Damon's pain flooded the link they shared. It was almost more than she could bear. But then Katherine was speaking and Elena tried to find a distraction in her tone.

"Anyone who wants to come out and speak to me is welcome to come out. If you don't come out, you will die."

Katherine smiled wickedly at the people inside the house before she turned and moved away. With all the strength she could muster, Elena moved to where she could see the outside more clearly. To her horror, close to twenty humans who had been set on fire were racing toward the house. Liz took out as many humans as she could, but even she couldn't stop them all. Before Elena could even move to help, the house had been set on fire.

"I'm going out," Elena called as she moved into the doorway and toward Damon. Liz moved outside with her and took out the humans and werewolves who moved near them.

Thankfully, Elena noticed that Katherine had only released a small amount of vervain into Damon's system. The pain had already numbed in Elena's mind and she found out that Damon could move slightly. Parts of the front porch were on fire and their time to save Damon was ticking down.

After a few more seconds, Alaric was at Elena's side and helping her carry Damon away from the fire. Those who had been in the living room were piling out of the area and into the large expanse of lawn before them. Those with weapons were shooting mercilessly at the werewolves and humans in the area. The vampires had yet to move and they didn't look too happy about Katherine's plans on making them wait.

As Elena truly took in the sight before them, she knew they were going to die tonight. There was no way they could beat the humans and werewolves, and they comprised only a small amount of the army that was before them. The werewolves themselves looked like something from a horror film. They stood on all fours, but were much taller than normal wolves. They were bearing their fangs and growling at Elena and the weak army she was part of. One of the wolves moved toward her, but Liz shot it before it could get to them.

When Elena looked back at the group around them, she saw everyone but Tyler and Jeremy. A wave of fear washed over her being as she glanced back to the profusely burning house.

"Bonnie," Elena said quickly as she moved to her friend. "We have to go back in."

It took Bonnie only a few seconds to realize who was missing.

"Stay here," Bonnie commanded. "I can go get them. I won't get hurt."

Before Elena could protest, Bonnie took off for the house. Elena moved to chase after her, but Jenna and Caroline held her back.

"You can't go back in there," Jenna made clear as she finally let go of Elena's arm. "She'll make it back out."

"I hope so," Elena said as she looked nervously at the house. With the flames rising high into the night sky, she didn't see how anyone would make it out.

* * *

Fire was already consuming the house as Bonnie made her way into the living room. She reached out with her power and felt Jeremy and Tyler's presence in the upstairs. Fighting through the large amount of smoke in the room, Bonnie ascended the stairs.

As she walked down the hallway, it surprised Bonnie how quickly the fire had spread. Smoke engulfed her vision and it took her a moment to figure out where she needed to go. When she did, she opened the door to the guest bedroom and peered inside.

It took her only a few seconds to realize why Jeremy and Tyler had yet to evacuate the building. Currently, Jeremy and Tyler wrestled in the floor. Tyler was on top of Jeremy and attempting to strangle him. Using all of his power, Jeremy pushed his feet against Tyler's chest and shoved him across the room.

"Tyler!" Bonnie snapped and she saw him look to her. Recognition dawned behind his eyes and he shook his head to clear it.

"I'm so sorry," he said as he turned to help Jeremy up. "I lost myself for a moment."

"We can worry about this later," Jeremy said as he fully realized the extent of the situation. "We have to get out of here."

They turned and faced Bonnie then and saw the look of terror on her face. Before she had time to speak, a beam fell from the ceiling and cut off their escape route.

Tyler didn't hesitate to turn to the window and push it open. When Bonnie looked outside, she saw how hopeless their escape was. Parts of the roof were on fire, and the flames were quickly itching their way toward them. She glanced back to the door of the room and tried to decide if there was any way they could go back through the house.

"Just go," Bonnie said to Jeremy as she motioned toward the window. She chanted the same spell she had used to allow Stefan to rescue his brother only a week ago. She allowed her own feelings for Tyler to flood into her thoughts to make the spell stronger. Some of the flames on the roof drew back. A wave of pride raced through her being as she realized her spell was working.

Tyler tried to make her go next, but she shook her head quickly. She was too involved with keeping the flames back to try to escape now. With a begrudging look, Tyler climbed out of the window and then turned to help Bonnie out.

It was only then that Bonnie realized the heat that had consumed her being. She had been so focused on the flames on the roof that she had forgotten to pay attention to the fire in the room. Now, it surrounded the outskirts of the room and threatened to overtake her at any moment.

She had just taken Tyler's hand so he could help her out of the window when the floor underneath her collapsed. Tyler held onto her tightly and prevented her from falling to her death. But as she looked up into his dark eyes, she could see how hard it was for him to hold her up in this difficult position. She could feel the flames retake the roof. Soon, they would all die.

"I'm so sorry," Bonnie breathed as tears lined her eyes. "I so desperately wanted to be with you after this war."

"Stop talking like that," Tyler demanded as he tried to pull Bonnie up. "You _are_ going to make it through this."

"No," Bonnie shook her head. "Go save the others."

"You are not going to die," he cursed as he strained harder to pull her up.

"I was meant to do this," Bonnie said as smiled weakly at him. "I was always meant to save you."

"Bonnie-"

With every ounce of strength she had inside of her, she pulled against his grip and managed to break free. Then she fell from his grasp and into the heat below.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	19. Chapter 19 The Change

a/n: Once again, thank you to everyone who took the time to review. I deeply enjoyed reading everyone's reaction to the last chapter. I had originally planned for this chapter and the next chapter to be one chapter. The war ended up being far too long to finish in this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to post another chapter tomorrow and then finish the story before the season premiere. I had planned on posting this chapter last night, but my Internet messed up. I think everything is okay now. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please remember to review!

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Chapter Nineteen The Change

_Violent breathing _  
_Keeps the oxygen kissing torn up lungs. _  
_My hearts beating but it won't keep me from saving everyone. _  
_Yet I still have _  
_messages to send to those I love. _  
_Violent breathing, it won't keep me from saving everyone. _  
-Into the Night by Eyes Set to Kill

Jenna stood in the cool night and shivered. The smell of burning flesh consumed her nostrils and she tried to distract herself from the horrible stench. Still, when she glanced back toward the burning house, the smell was all she could think about.

It had been able ten minutes since Bonnie had entered the house and no one had yet to come out. The house was quickly burning to the ground and soon nothing would be left.

Surprisingly, Katherine had yet to attack. She seemed intent on waiting for the entire group to allow their downfall to resume. When Jenna looked over to the woman who looked so much like Elena, she felt like she was going to throw up. The vampire was enjoying the fear she brought to the humans before her. This was obviously nothing more than a game to Katherine. And unfortunately, this was a game Katherine intended on winning.

Letting out a deep breath, Jenna felt a wave of relief wash over her being. On the top of the burning roof, she could see Jeremy and Tyler make their way to a place where they could climb down. They walked over to the lowest part of the roof and used the gutters to lower themselves to the ground.

They remained silent as they joined the army Jenna was a member of. Beside Jenna, Elena made a break for Jeremy. She hugged him fiercely, but when she parted, sadness filled her brown eyes.

"Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked quickly.

When Jeremy didn't speak, Elena looked to Tyler. With sadness in his eyes, he shook his head.

Jenna moved to comfort Elena, but by that time, Katherine was speaking.

"That witch could never do anything right," Katherine grinned as she circled the small army. "It looks like your chances of winning just died." With a gleam of insanity in her eyes, she looked at each individual member in the group. "I have given all of you a lot to think about. Is there anything anyone wants to say to me now?"

"Shut up Katherine," Damon grinned despite the weakness that still consumed his body. "All of us are here to fight. Why put that off any longer?"

"Fine," Katherine shrugged before she glanced back to her army. "Attack."

* * *

Damon swiftly moved and snapped the neck of the nearest human that came toward him and Elena. When two werewolves came toward them, he fought against one and let Elena take the other. He could feel Elena's sadness inside his own body, but she was staying focused on the task at hand. He admired her for that.

Using his inhuman senses, he let Elena see and experience what he did. With a quick motion, he snapped the neck of the nearest werewolf that came toward him. For safety measures, he took the silver dagger he had and stabbed the beast in the heart. The werewolf fell onto the ground in a thick mess of hair and blood. Then, Damon turned to see how Elena was doing.

A smile crossed his lips as watched Elena stab the werewolf in the face. Her face was lined with disgust, but she pulled the dagger out and moved to face her next opponent. When she saw Damon smiling at her, she smiled back. Then, Damon felt her send a sense of urgency through their link. He turned around just in time to avoid the fangs of an attacking werewolf. In one swift motion, he sent the wolf to the ground and stabbed it with his dagger.

Before another enemy could attack, Damon glanced over at Katherine. Her gaze was fixed on him and a grin crossed her lips. With a flick of her wrist, Katherine sent out another wave of soldiers to fight against the small army.

_She's just playing with us,_ Elena said through the link.

Although Damon didn't speak, he nodded his head slightly. It was more proof of Katherine's insanity that she chose to drag the fight out instead of letting it end quickly. She wanted to see how long her prey would play with her before they gave in to her demands. With anger infusing his and Elena's beings, he turned toward the approaching soldiers and prepared to fight again.

* * *

Liz leveled her gun and shot three werewolves who were coming toward her in quick succession. Since she was one of the few people who had a gun, she felt like it was her responsibility to take out any and all werewolves she saw.

When she glanced back to one of her deputies, she saw a werewolf standing over his mangled body. Liz fired quickly and took out the werewolf, but it was already too late. Her deputy was dead.

She tried not to let his death affect her. She had only known him for a year, but he had saved her life on countless occasions. Now, she couldn't do anything to bring him back.

She turned then to a group of werewolves who were standing nearby and fired quickly. All she wanted now was revenge.

* * *

Bonnie screamed as she fell hard onto the floor. A piece of partially burning wood lodged itself in her leg and burned skin, bone, and muscle. With tears lining her eyes, she pulled the piece of wood from her body and fell back against the floor.

No matter where she looked, fire consumed her vision. She was surprised that she had fallen without killing herself, although she wasn't sure she could move from her current position. And even if she did move, she didn't see how she could escape the burning mess around her.

A piece of wood fell from the ceiling and she covered her head instinctively to protect herself. When the wood landed a few feet from her, she let out a sigh of relief. Then, she used part of her dwindling strength to pull herself to her feet.

It took her only a second to realize she couldn't put any weight on the leg that had been impaled by the piece of wood. Some blood oozed its way out of her wound and Bonnie tried not to think about how badly she had been hurt. The floor underneath her creaked before it gave out from her weight.

Thankfully, she grabbed onto part of the broken floor before she plummeted to the basement below. After letting out a deep breath, Bonnie pulled herself up to the remaining floor. The broken floor boards tore at the skin on her legs as she managed to stay on the first floor of the home. Afraid that the floor would collapse again, Bonnie crawled on her hands and knees through the thick smoke and heat that consumed the room.

The doorway to the room had yet to be caught on fire and it was easy for Bonnie to pull herself from the almost destroyed room. When she did, she was in the kitchen area. Although it was close to the same distance to escape through both the front and back doors, she instantly decided to try to escape through the back.

As she crawled throughout the rest of the house, debris crashed to the ground all around her. Her arms and legs were covered with scratches and burns, but she ignored the pain and continued on her trek to escape from the house. Right now, all she wanted to do was save her friends.

When the backdoor finally came into her line of vision, a smile crept across her lips. The door stood wide open so she had no problems worrying about escape. Since the fire had started at the front of the house, this side had less fire and presented less of a risk to her safety.

Her body burned slightly when she took in her first breath of fresh air. She moved across the back porch quickly, even though her body was overcome by deep coughs. She used the railing of the steps to pull herself up. It took her a few minutes to make her way down the stairs, and when she did, she collapsed onto the safety of the grass.

Since the house was burning quickly, Bonnie crawled a few more feet away from the flames. Then she took a moment to recover from the large amount of energy she had used during her escape. She laid down on the soft grass and closed her eyes. The night felt cool despite the heat that burned only a few feet from her body. Despite how easy it was to lose herself in her current state of peace, she forced herself to take one more deep breath before she once again opened her eyes.

For a few seconds, she just stared at the man who stood above her. Bonnie had never seen a man who looked so breathtakingly beautiful before. His eyes were the color of the ocean and his hair glistened a silver-blond in the moonlight. Yet when he smiled at her, she shuddered.

"Who are you?" Bonnie finally asked from her position on the ground.

"I'm your knight in shining armor," he replied wickedly. "I'm here to make Katherine stop this madness."

* * *

Fear consumed Caroline as a werewolf moved toward her. She knew the consequences if she accidently killed the monstrous creature before her, but she also had to stay alive. Currently, she didn't see any way that she could survive and not kill this being.

With inhuman speed, the wolf tackled her and sent her to the ground. Caroline instantly grabbed the regular dagger she had been given to use as a weapon. She stabbed the wolf in the shoulder and then shuddered when the wolf let out a bone-chilling howl. Instead of instantly attacking, the wolf bared its fangs and growled at her.

Caroline tried to move, but the wolf had her securely pinned to the ground. After a few seconds, Caroline wondered why the wolf hadn't killed her yet. She glanced up to the sky and shivered when she saw two people standing over her.

The man looked to her with a wide grin on his face. It was easy to tell this man was a vampire, and his thirst was evident in his brown eyes. He pushed the werewolf away easily and then held Caroline in his arms. She expected him to feed from her, but instead, he placed the dagger she had just used to stab the werewolf in her hands. She tried to fight against him, but couldn't move out of his inhuman grasp.

Then, he made her face the other person who had been standing over her. Sadness consumed Caroline's being as she realized this woman was a human. Caroline pushed against the vampire, but he moved her toward the woman. Holding onto Caroline's hand, he forced Caroline to stab the human.

Caroline screamed as pain filled her entire being. The vampire let go of her, and then both her and the human fell to the ground. As the life force of the human left the body, Caroline started to change. The agony of the shift was unbearable. Her hands formed fists inside her blond hair as she screamed countless times. Slowly, her body changed from that of a human to that of an oversized wolf. After a few minutes of intense pain, her screams turned into howls of rage.

The anger and fierceness she felt overtook all of her thoughts. She tried to think of something besides killing, but blood was the only thing she could think about. She wanted to kill, and kill, and kill.

Before she could even move, a shot rang out in the night. She howled again as she was once more filled with a pain so intense that she couldn't breathe. She tried to escape from the agony, but everything fell into blackness.

* * *

a/n: Please review!


	20. Chapter 20 The One Who Could Stop Her

a/n: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review my last chapter. I only have one more chapter after this one. This chapter was originally called "The Only One Who Could Stop Her," but apparently my title was too long. Just pretend that title is up there. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And please remember to review!

* * *

Chapter Twenty The One Who Could Stop Her

_My Hands! My hands are shaking on your chest,_  
_ But I, I can't feel you breathing tonight,_  
_ I know that you're ok, you'll be alive,_  
_ When this is over this is over! _  
_ I cant! I can't feel you breathing! Breathing! _  
-A Prophecy: In Reverie by Agraceful

Jenna felt like her entire world was shattering. Although she had managed to take out a few of the werewolves and humans that had attacked her, she wasn't fairing well. Alaric had been forced to step in on multiple occasions to stop her from being killed. Every time he had helped her, he had been hurt in the process. If they had to fight for much longer, neither of them would make it through.

When a werewolf came toward Jenna, she tried to stab the animal. It moved too quickly though, and she was sent sprawling to the ground. Her silver dagger flew a few feet from her body and the wolf pinned her to the ground before she could move away. Alaric appeared at her side in only a matter of seconds and stabbed the werewolf with his silver dagger. He pushed the dead wolf off of Jenna's body before he offered her his hand.

Jenna had just touched his hand when another werewolf appeared and tackled Alaric. She moved and grabbed her dagger quickly. She didn't hesitate to stab the wolf and push it off of Alaric. Even as she pushed the wolf away, she could see the damage that had been done to Alaric's body. Deep gashes were etched into his chest and blood covered her hands as she tried to help him.

"Stay with me," Jenna said frantically as tears flowed from her eyes. "We've fought too hard for me to lose you now."

He shook his head slightly as he smiled painfully at her. "I love you Jenna."

"Alaric," Jenna continued in her same anxious tone. "We're getting married, remember? You can't die on me."

But even as she said the words, she felt the life leave his body. Her tears flowed freely, and she couldn't stop them, no matter how hard she tried. When she heard movement beside her, she grasped the hilt of her dagger and stabbed the next werewolf without mercy.

* * *

Despite Bonnie's efforts to push the man away, he held her in place and fed her his blood. After only a few moments, she felt the wounds on her leg start to heal. She was grateful that the pain had subsided, but also wary of this man who was with her now.

When he finally let her pull away from him, she studied him again. She couldn't get over how magnificent this creature looked. He moved with a grace she had never seen before and knew this man couldn't be a mere vampire.

"Who are you?" Bonnie finally asked.

"My name is Klaus," he spoke slowly. "I'm one of the Originals."

Bonnie shuddered. She had never been around a vampire who had possessed so much power before, and she was completely overwhelmed by how small she felt.

"Why did you save me?"

"I have great plans for you," he replied with a grin. "But those plans will take place in the future. Right now, I have a war to stop."

Without another word, he stood up and walked away. Although Bonnie was still confused, she had no choice but to get up and follow him.

* * *

Matt moved to the right just in time to avoid an oncoming attack. He then turned around and stabbed the werewolf between the shoulders. It fell to the ground in howls of pain, and Matt used that time to finish off the beast. When it no longer moved, he turned to help Caroline face her opponent.

A wave of terror shook throughout his body as he saw a vampire drag her toward a human victim. She was trying to fight against him, but the vampire wouldn't let her go.

Grabbing onto the vervain dart he possessed, Matt raced toward the vampire. He was only a few feet from the demon when he was sent to the ground by another werewolf. It took him a few seconds to recover from the attack, and to grab onto his dagger. After he stabbed the wolf, its limp body collapsed against him. It took Matt a few more seconds to push the wolf away and grab his vervain dart again. By that time, he heard a shot ring out through the night.

When he looked for Caroline, she was nowhere to be seen. It took him a few moments to realize that the werewolf that lay on the ground beside the vampire was her. As recognition hit, Matt turned and searched for the source of the attack. About twenty feet from where he stood, he saw Sheriff Forbes hold a gun in Caroline's direction. Fear and anger raced through Matt's body as he took off for Caroline.

He saw her lose consciousness and her body instantly shifted back to that of a human. Blood flowed freely from the wound in her shoulder and stained her skin a dark crimson. Her body convulsed as the silver made its way into her blood stream.

The vampire that stood over her was so taken by her blood and he didn't see Matt coming. Matt stabbed the vampire with his vervain dart before plunging a stake through the vampire's heart. He didn't even bother to retrieve his weapons as he sunk to the earth beside Caroline.

"Caroline," Matt choked as he took in the severity of the wound. "Please, Caroline. Just wait a few more minutes and I'll have this thing out."

He pulled out the regular dagger he possessed and used the tip of the blade to try to get to the bullet out. Caroline gasped and choked as he moved the bullet around, but he continued to work. After a few more seconds of dealing with her pain, he used the tip of the blade and his fingers to pull the bullet out.

When the bullet was out, Caroline's body became unnaturally still. He checked for a pulse and was able to pick up a weak heartbeat. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he held her body in his hands.

"Everything is going to be okay," Matt whispered softly. "Just hang in there Caroline."

* * *

Stefan glanced at the area and saw the destruction around him. A few of the humans that the vampires had been compelling snapped out of their trances. Before they were able to escape, any vampire or werewolf in the area ripped their bodies into multiple pieces. With the memory of the blood Katherine had fed him still in his mind, it was hard for Stefan to stay sane.

When a werewolf charged at him, he quickly tore the animal's body into multiple pieces. He didn't even wait to see if the creature healed before he walked up to Katherine.

"Take me Katherine and let the rest of the people live," Stefan spoke as he looked deep into her brown eyes. "It has always been me that you wanted."

"Are you so sure about that Stefan?" she mocked. "I remember wanting your brother too."

"Then we'll get Damon before we leave," Stefan snapped. "Just stop this Katherine."

"But it's much more fun this way," Katherine grinned. She closed the distance between her and Stefan and let one of her fingers trail down his chest. "I have always been the one you wanted," she spoke with confidence. "I will have you, whether or not I stop now."

"Do they really need to be part of this?"

"I think so," Katherine beamed. "I know there's a part of you who enjoys watching this massacre."

"You think you know me so well." Stefan shook his head.

"Oh, I do," Katherine replied. Then, she looked out at the war in front of her. "Go back and fight Stefan. I will see you _very_ soon."

* * *

Tyler managed to wound the werewolf enough that it stopped its approach towards him. Then, without a hint of hesitation, Jeremy stabbed the being and allowed its limp form to fall to the ground.

"Thanks," Tyler said before he took in a deep breath. It was hard to tell with his frustration and anger, but harming the werewolves helped some of his wrath subside. The longer the night went on, the harder it was for him to stay focused on the task at hand.

When another opponent approached them, Tyler suppressed a shiver. This was the first vampire who had attempted to attack them and he wasn't thrilled to see how this match played out.

After letting out a deep breath, Tyler moved forward and tried to stab the vampire. Instead of hitting the vampire, Tyler ended up on the ground. The vampire moved to kill him, but stopped at the last second. The vampire then took a few steps away from Tyler and turned his attention to someone who had just entered the clearing. Tyler turned his attention to the man too, and waited to see what would take place.

* * *

Bonnie walked beside Klaus as he moved to the front of the house. His entire body hummed with power and it was almost too much for her to bear. Her green eyes occasionally glanced to him to take in his demeanor, but his expression never changed.

Without hesitating, he moved into the front yard and toward the epicenter of the fighting. When people on both sides of the war saw him, they gave him their undivided attention. The vampires, werewolves, and humans bowed down to him. Bonnie's allies remained standing, although they glanced to each other with uncertainty.

Bonnie stopped following Klaus and looked to Katherine. Katherine had crossed her arms and was marching toward Klaus with a frown on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Katherine snapped as she approached Klaus.

"I thought you needed to be stopped," Klaus replied. "I became tired of watching you destroy this town. I'm ready for you to come home."

"That's not your decision to make," Katherine retorted.

"I would beg to differ," Klaus made clear. "You're not going to continue your destruction here."

"I have an entire army with me." Katherine grinned as she motioned to her followers. "How are you going to stop me?"

Klaus cleared his throat as he fought back a smile. "How loyal do you really think your soldiers are to you?" He turned to the multitude around him then. "I'm sure everyone here is aware of the power I possess. If any of you stand up against me, you will die. If you have any desire to live, I advise you to leave now."

When no one moved, Katherine truly smiled. "I told you they were loyal to me."

Klaus brushed her off and held up a hand for her to be quiet. It was then that Bonnie realized that all the remaining humans had snapped out of their trances. They looked to one another in confusion before racing away from the creatures around them. The werewolves and vampires were so focused on Klaus that they let the humans escape. In fact, a few of the vampires chose to leave during that time too.

"I still have more than enough people to bet you," Katherine spoke up.

Klaus held up a finger for her to wait. After a few more seconds, the entire werewolf population took off for the trees beyond Bonnie's house. The vampires glanced to each other as they debated what to do. Then, all of Katherine's army but five soldiers disappeared.

"You _will_ pay for this," Katherine snapped as she looked at the area around her. "I _will_ get my revenge."

"We'll see about that," Klaus laughed. Katherine glared at him one more time before she took off with the small army she still possessed.

"Thank you," Bonnie said softly as she moved up beside Klaus. He looked to her then with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Don't thank me yet," he replied. "I will be back, and I won't be on your side next time." He walked over to Elena then and smiled at her. "You are such an interesting specimen," he said as he held her head in his hands. "I will be back for you."

Before Bonnie could even blink, Klaus had disappeared and they were standing alone. She glanced to the people around her, and tried to take in the damage that had been done. Hopefully, they would all be safe soon.

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a/n: Please review!


	21. Chapter 21 Counting the Costs

a/n: Thanks to everyone who took the time to review the last chapter. So this one's it. I've completely enjoyed taking this ride with you. I've loved writing this fan fiction, and reading your reviews to what I wrote. I've thought about writing a sequel to this fan fiction, but I'm not really sure what to do. If you want me to continue this, please say so in your reviews. This chapter is a little short, but it's only meant to tie up a few loose ends. As always, I hope you enjoy and please remember to review!

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Chapter Twenty-One Counting the Costs

_So you're gone and I'm haunted,_  
_And I bet you are just fine,_  
_Did I make it that easy to walk,_  
_Right in and out of my life?  
-_Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy

Elena stood and looked out at the expanse before them. Currently, Alaric's body lay in a coffin they had taken from one of the funeral homes in the city. Damon and Stefan had worked to dig a hole to put the coffin into, and the entire group stood quietly and looked at the coffin before them. Elena currently held onto Jenna's and Damon's hands and tried to find comfort in the contact. She knew how much Jenna was hurting now, and she wished she could take some of the pain away.

Occasionally, Jenna would hold onto her stomach and look like she was going to throw up.

_She's pregnant_, Damon said through their link as his blue eyes looked to her. Elena glanced over quickly to Jenna and wondered if she knew what was going on inside of her body.

_Alaric gave Jenna her ring so she would survive this_, Elena replied.

_We were all lucky to survive this._

_Do you think Katherine will be back?_

_Yes, _Damon nodded. _I'm sure she'll be back. _

_And what about Klaus?_

_I'm sure he'll be back too, _Damon frowned.

Elena nodded slowly. The wind blew through the graveyard and sent shivers down her spine. Jenna's tears flowed from her face and caused Elena's sadness to intensify. After everything that Jenna had been through, she deserved a happy ending.

Jenna broke contact with Elena then to place a single yellow rose on top of Alaric's coffin. Elena held onto Damon tighter then and found comfort in his strength.

Caroline came up to Elena then and took hold of her free hand. During the previous night, the survivors had gathered around Caroline and helped remove all traces of silver from her bloodstream. Her body had eventually healed itself and now, Elena couldn't even tell Caroline had been shot.

When Liz had realized that she had shot her daughter, she had left Mystic Falls. She had stayed long enough to learn that Caroline had survived, but she hadn't been able to face her daughter's reaction. Caroline had taken her mother's departure hard, but now, she seemed strong. Caroline wasn't about to let her problems with her mother destroy her life.

All of them knew how hard it would be for Caroline when the full moon came around again, but no one spoke the words out loud. Throughout the next month, they would work as hard as possible to help find a cure for Caroline. And if they couldn't find one, they would do everything in their power to help her stay in control when she changed.

Then, Elena glanced over and looked at Jeremy. Letting go of Caroline and Damon's hands, Elena moved over to her brother.

"We survived," Elena said softly as she gently squeezed Jeremy's hand. He looked down to her then and nodded slowly.

"I'm glad I didn't change," he finally replied. "I always thought it would be easier, but living doesn't really matter if I'm numb."

"I'm glad you're still alive," Elena smiled weakly.

When Jeremy didn't respond, Elena glanced toward the trees that lined the graveyard. In a grove of nearby trees, Elena could make out Isobel's form. For only a few seconds, she looked to Elena and let her see the sadness in her eyes. Then, Elena blinked and Isobel had disappeared.

* * *

Damon stood and stared at the coffin that housed Alaric's body. Damon had never thought he would ever care about a human again, yet he had managed to form connections with multiple humans over the past year. Now, Alaric's death sent stabs of pain throughout his being.

The rest of the humans stood and talked, but Damon glanced over at his brother. Stefan stared into the trees, and a look of sadness crossed his face.

"How did you deal with me and Elena?" Stefan finally asked.

"What?" Damon arched a perfect eyebrow.

"I don't know what's going on between you two," Stefan began slowly, "but I know that she's not coming back to me. You've had to deal with loving Elena and watching her be with me. How did you do it?"

"There's really no way to deal with it," Damon shrugged.

"There is one way." Stefan's eyes met Damon's blue ones.

Damon nodded in understanding. "When are you leaving?"

"Soon."

"Are you going after Katherine?"

"Yes."

Damon sighed as he raked a hand through his dark hair. "You know how bad of an idea that is."

"I know," Stefan replied. "But there are loose ends I need to tie up."

"Just don't let her control you again."

"You're one to give advice," Stefan said sarcastically. "I remember how long you searched for Katherine."

"Fair enough," Damon shrugged. "Just watch out for yourself."

"You know I will."

Damon looked into Stefan's eyes for only a few seconds before Stefan disappeared. As much as it hurt Damon to let Stefan go, Damon held his ground. He could remember the pain he had felt when Elena had been in his brother's arms. He just hoped Stefan could find solace somewhere in the world.

* * *

Slowly, Bonnie walked over to Tyler and embraced him in a fierce hug. After everything that had occurred during the past few days, it felt good to be able to stand there and simply hold him. They were the survivors.

A slight breeze blew through the graveyard, and every sensation the wind brought felt absolutely amazing. It had been so long since they had been completely able to enjoy the sunlight. For the past week, they had rushed through the daytime as they had worked to prepare themselves for the night. Now, they could enjoy every minute of every day.

And even though they all felt the loss of Alaric, hope was on the horizon. The sun glistened across the slightly wet grass and lit up a world that had felt so completely dark only hours before.

When Klaus had left, Bonnie had sat on the grass and watched her house burn. It had been one of the hardest things she had ever had to do, especially since she didn't have the power to put out the flames. All of the survivors had sat down beside her and shared in her pain. They had formed a connection then that would never be taken away.

Even now as Bonnie thought about the destruction that had come upon the town, she knew everything would work out okay. A new day had dawned, and they would rebuild from the ashes of the broken town. Then, they would find life again.

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a/n: Please review!


	22. Chapter 22 Rambles

Hello everyone! I know it's been quite some time since you've heard from me. My semester is just now getting ready to come to a close, and I'm insanely excited about getting ready to write.

I will probably start a new Vampire Diaries story soon, but would also like to branch out to other categories. I love being able to write about vampires and werewolves. There is something about writing about their inner struggle that captivates me. I would like to start a story about Little Red Riding Hood, with a twist that I don't think has been used thus far. I haven't seen the latest movie, but know a little bit about it. I'm going to try as hard as possible to not write anything like that. I think this story will also allow me to showcase some of my more original ideas. I don't, however, want to write this story if no one is going to read it. So if you're interested, please comment and let me know!

Thanks!

Rachel


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